Photo: AbeEzekowitz · CC BY-SA 3.0There are 1.9 jobs in Joplin for every working resident, and 29,084 people commute in
For jobs and income Joplin is better than 25% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (A−). Employers in Joplin report 39,694 jobs; 21,085 of its residents have a job. Measured by household income, Joplin is behind 85% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Joplin at work: what stands out
Joplin is where the jobs are
Joplin has 39,694 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Joplin are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Inside Joplin’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Joplin’s grade up (ahead of 60% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($52,097, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Joplin could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Who leaves Joplin for work, and who comes in
On a workday 10,475 residents head out to work and 10,610 work right here.
About 73,000 people are in Joplin on a workday afternoon, 35% more than live here.
1.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
How long Joplin spends getting to work: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Joplin workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 21,642 commuters (the 10% 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.
Who travels to work in Joplin, and from where
Where Joplin clocks in
5% 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.
The kinds of work in Joplin
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Joplin, 2013 → 2023: 40,461 → 39,694. 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 Joplin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Joplin
About 19% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Joplin
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 24,060 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). 9.6% of Joplin households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Joplin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Joplin next to U.S. towns of 38,000 to 73,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Chesterfield MO | 49,309 | $133K | 3.9% | 3.2% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 116 | St. Peters MO | 61,479 | $92K | 5.6% | 2.3% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 142 | Wentzville MO | 49,495 | $112K | 5.4% | 2.7% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 751 | Passaic NJ | 71,337 | $55K | 22.9% | 12.5% | 12% | C |
| 752 | Bossier City LA | 63,259 | $56K | 20.8% | 6.5% | 26% | C |
| 753 | Joplin MO | 53,930 | $52K | 16.9% | 5.3% | 50% | C |
| 754 | Weslaco TX | 44,203 | $60K | 23.2% | 7.1% | 26% | C− |
| 755 | Dover DE | 40,592 | $60K | 15.0% | 8.0% | 31% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 830 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Joplin, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
How Joplin compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Webb City (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Joplin workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joplin | – | C | A− | 18 min | $52,097 |
| Leawood | under 1% | — | — | 15 min | — |
| Duquesne | 2% | B− | A− | 14 min | $54,135 |
| Webb City | 4% | C | C+ | 17 min | $65,469 |
| Duenweg | under 1% | C+ | C− | 19 min | $63,375 |
| Grand Falls Plaza | under 1% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Redings Mill | under 1% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Loma Linda | under 1% | B− | C | 20 min | $92,292 |
| Saginaw | under 1% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Airport Drive | under 1% | — | — | 15 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Leawood, Grand Falls Plaza, Redings Mill, Saginaw and Airport Drive: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Joplin’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 Joplin: questions
What is the median household income in Joplin?
$52,097 (±$3,671) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Joplin?
16.9%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Joplin?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Joplin work?
50% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (5%, 67 mi), Carthage (4%, 11 mi), Webb City (4%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Joplin walkable?
Joplin is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Joplin 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 Joplin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Joplin
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.