Photo: Andrew Balet · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Hannibal trail those of 83% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Hannibal C−; getting around on foot earns it A−. 19.5% of residents live below the poverty line, against 12.6% across Missouri. About two in five work in Hannibal itself; outside it, Quincy draws the most (6%, 16 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Hannibal apart on work
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Hannibal
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hannibal is better than 19% of U.S. towns, #190 of 247 in Missouri. Job access by car holds Hannibal’s grade up (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hannibal could be anywhere from D to C+.
Each way, about 15 minutes from Hannibal
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hannibal workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,378 commuters (the 6% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Hannibal
On a workday 3,916 residents head out to work, 3,145 work right here, and 6,454 people come in from elsewhere.
About 19,000 people are in Hannibal on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.36 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 Hannibal commutes to
Where Hannibal clocks in
6% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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.
What Hannibal’s employers do
9,599 jobs are based in Hannibal.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hannibal, 2013 → 2023: 10,290 → 9,599. 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 Hannibal’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Hannibal
About 29% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Hannibal
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hannibal is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #40 of 247 in Missouri. Both inputs place Hannibal near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,812 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). 9.9% of Hannibal households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Hannibal’s commuters take a bus or train.
Hannibal is 1,798th of 1,999 U.S. towns of 12,000 to 23,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Dardenne Prairie MO | 15,032 | $153K | 1.3% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Crestwood MO | 12,207 | $107K | 5.5% | 1.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 156 | Creve Coeur MO | 18,480 | $127K | 6.1% | 2.6% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,796 | Valle Vista CA | 18,602 | $67K | 16.7% | 8.7% | 3% | C− |
| 1,797 | Gantt SC | 15,401 | $47K | 25.2% | 8.2% | 3% | C− |
| 1,798 | Hannibal MO | 16,804 | $54K | 19.5% | 5.2% | 45% | C− |
| 1,799 | Mountain Home ID | 16,779 | $63K | 11.4% | 6.1% | 29% | C− |
| 1,800 | Centralia WA | 19,375 | $56K | 19.6% | 5.7% | 16% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,999 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Hannibal, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
How Hannibal compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hannibal workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hannibal | – | C− | A− | 15 min | $53,721 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hannibal’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Hannibal: questions
What is the median household income in Hannibal?
$53,721 (±$5,857) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hannibal?
19.5%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hannibal?
15 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hannibal work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Quincy (6%, 16 mi), Columbia (3%, 72 mi), Palmyra (2%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hannibal walkable?
Hannibal is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hannibal without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hannibal, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hannibal
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.