Households in Hamilton earn less than those in 66% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Hamilton; the top destination outside it is Kansas City (10%, 52 miles). 6.0% of residents are in poverty, next to 12.6% for Missouri as a whole. For jobs and income Hamilton is better than 37% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Hamilton: the figures worth knowing
Hamilton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Hamilton is Kansas City, 52 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (69) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Jobs in Hamilton have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Hamilton went from 393 in 2013 to 877 in 2023, +123%. The jobs ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
52% of the jobs in Hamilton are in trade, transport and utilities, against 32% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 674 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Where Hamilton’s Jobs & income grade comes from
The poverty rate holds Hamilton’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 14% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.8%) is left out: Hamilton’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Hamilton could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Miles to work from Hamilton
About 33% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What work there is in Hamilton: 877 jobs
877 jobs are based in Hamilton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hamilton, 2013 → 2023: 393 → 877. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Hamilton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Hamilton fills up on a workday
On a workday 555 residents head out to work, 119 work right here, and 758 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Hamilton on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.30 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The places Hamilton commutes to
Where Hamilton clocks in
10% of workers
10% of workers
8% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
A commute of about 24 minutes in Hamilton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hamilton workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 734 commuters (the 12% who work from home are left out). Across Missouri: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
In Hamilton, the car does most of the work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 830 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.1% of Hamilton households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hamilton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Hamilton ranks: 2,971st of 5,760 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 56 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,969 | Daleville IN | 1,706 | $51K | 11.2% | 5.9% | 9% | C+ |
| 2,970 | North Beach MD | 2,179 | $84K | 5.1% | 17.1% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,971 | Hamilton MO | 1,726 | $65K | 6.0% | 2.8% | 18% | C+ |
| 2,972 | Gambier OH | 2,233 | $93K | 21.5% | 4.2% | 13% | C+ |
| 2,973 | Dover Township MI | 1,645 | $74K | 8.3% | 6.6% | 2% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Hamilton, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Hamilton: questions
What is the median household income in Hamilton?
$65,213 (±$12,902) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hamilton?
6.0%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hamilton?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hamilton work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kansas City (10%, 52 mi), Cameron (10%, 12 mi), St. Joseph (8%, 44 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hamilton walkable?
Hamilton is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hamilton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hamilton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hamilton
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.