Pleasant View School · Photo: 25or6to4 · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Holden have lower incomes than those in 69% of U.S. towns
About one in ten stay in Holden for work; outside it, Kansas City is the main destination (16%, 42 miles). Poverty touches 19.2% of residents, where Missouri as a whole has 12.6%. Jobs and income earn Holden C−; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Holden apart on work
Holden’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Holden is Kansas City, 42 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (135) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Holden
56% of Holden residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 33% of the jobs based in Holden pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 92% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Holden pay little
26% of the jobs based in Holden pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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 868 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Holden’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Holden is better than 19% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Holden’s grade up (ahead of 35% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (2.8%) is left out: Holden’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, Holden could be anywhere from D to C+.
Near or far: the trip to work from Holden
About 18% 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 Holden: 633 jobs
633 jobs are based in Holden.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Holden, 2013 → 2023: 666 → 633. 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 Holden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Holden
On a workday 797 residents head out to work, 71 work right here, and 562 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Holden on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.73 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 2023, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Holden ends
Where Holden clocks in
16% of workers
6% 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.
Getting to work from Holden takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Holden workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 824 commuters (the 8% 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 Holden, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Holden is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Holden 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 899 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). 4.5% of Holden households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Holden’s commuters take a bus or train.
4,266th of 5,552: where Holden ranks among U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 54 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,264 | Oakland City IN | 2,274 | $49K | 14.2% | 6.2% | 8% | C− |
| 4,265 | Rockwell City IA | 2,133 | $57K | 10.4% | 1.8% | 17% | C− |
| 4,266 | Holden MO | 2,347 | $63K | 19.2% | 2.8% | 8% | C− |
| 4,267 | Spruce Pine NC | 2,211 | $42K | 22.5% | 1.8% | 16% | C− |
| 4,268 | Coal Grove OH | 1,808 | $61K | 15.1% | 6.7% | 6% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,552 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Holden, 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 Holden: questions
What is the median household income in Holden?
$63,056 (±$9,588) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Holden?
19.2%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Holden?
26 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Holden work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kansas City (16%, 42 mi), Lee's Summit (10%, 26 mi), Warrensburg (6%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Holden walkable?
Holden is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Holden without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Holden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Holden
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.