Photo: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Hillsdale trail those of 97% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 27.3% of residents; Missouri has 12.6%. Jobs and income earn Hillsdale C; getting around on foot earns it A−. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 6.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 10.8 in St. Louis.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Hillsdale stands out on work
Fewer jobs are based in Hillsdale than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Hillsdale fell from 1,166 in 2014 to 370 in 2024, −68%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Most Hillsdale residents work close to home
71% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. Only 5% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
The jobs in Hillsdale pay better than its residents’ jobs
74% of the jobs based in Hillsdale pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 40% of the jobs Hillsdale residents hold. 99% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Hillsdale. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 500 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Hillsdale earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Hillsdale is better than 28% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Hillsdale’s grade up (ahead of 95% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($37,583, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.7%) is left out: Hillsdale’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, Hillsdale could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Goods jobs make up 48% of work in Hillsdale
370 jobs are based in Hillsdale.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hillsdale, 2014 → 2024: 1,166 → 370. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Hillsdale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Hillsdale to work
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Hillsdale quiets down on a workday
On a workday 497 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 367 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Hillsdale on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.74 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
26% of working residents work in St. Louis
Where Hillsdale clocks in
26% of workers
4% 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.
From Hillsdale, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hillsdale workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 436 commuters (the 4% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Hillsdale
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hillsdale is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, above the 3.2% across Missouri.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 455 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, <1% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 6.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 88% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.6% of Hillsdale households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Hillsdale’s commuters take a bus or train.
Hillsdale is 2,537th of 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Loch Lloyd MO | 1,090 | $184K | 2.5% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | LaBarque Creek MO | 1,457 | $133K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Fremont Hills MO | 1,098 | $171K | 3.9% | 1.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,535 | Fitchville Township OH | 1,000 | $76K | 19.1% | 0.0% | <1% | C |
| 2,536 | Middlebury Township PA | 1,284 | $62K | 6.2% | 8.7% | 3% | C |
| 2,537 | Hillsdale MO | 1,180 | $38K | 27.3% | 3.7% | 1% | C |
| 2,538 | White Sulphur Springs MT | 1,056 | $62K | 6.1% | 0.0% | 37% | C |
| 2,539 | Galatia Township IL | 1,056 | $48K | 5.7% | 8.6% | 5% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Hillsdale, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
Hillsdale and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hillsdale workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hillsdale | – | C | A− | 23 min | $37,583 |
| Wellston | under 2% | C | A+ | 20 min | $44,957 |
| Velda Village Hills | under 2% | — | — | 22 min | — |
| Pine Lawn | under 2% | C− | A+ | 25 min | $24,837 |
| Velda City | under 2% | C | A+ | 21 min | $37,105 |
| Normandy | under 2% | C | A+ | 19 min | $29,379 |
Same-state neighbors only. Velda Village Hills: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hillsdale’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 2024, 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 Hillsdale: questions
What is the median household income in Hillsdale?
$37,583 (±$9,160) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hillsdale?
27.3%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hillsdale?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hillsdale work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Louis (26%, 4 mi), Maryland Heights (7%, 10 mi), St. Peters (4%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Hillsdale walkable?
Hillsdale is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hillsdale without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. <1% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hillsdale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hillsdale
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.