Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 4.0La Plata’s household incomes are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns
La Plata grades C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. The poverty rate is 9.1% (Missouri 12.6%). About one in seven work in La Plata itself; outside it, Kirksville draws the most (24%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in La Plata: the figures worth knowing
What drives the Jobs & income grade in La Plata
On income, poverty and job access, La Plata is better than 17% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds La Plata’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (8.8%) is left out: La Plata’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, La Plata could be anywhere from D to C+.
The places La Plata commutes to
Where La Plata clocks in
24% of workers
11% 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.
In and out of La Plata on a workday
On a workday 411 residents head out to work, 63 work right here, and 255 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in La Plata on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.67 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.
What La Plata’s employers do
318 jobs are based in La Plata.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in La Plata, 2013 → 2023: 293 → 318. 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 La Plata’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 23 minutes to work from La Plata
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of La Plata workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 480 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.
How many miles La Plata commutes
About 28% 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.
Getting around La Plata: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, La Plata is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place La Plata 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 513 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). 12.7% of La Plata households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of La Plata’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,546th of 4,866: where La Plata ranks among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Loch Lloyd MO | 1,090 | $184K | 2.5% | 0.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 82 | LaBarque Creek MO | 1,457 | $133K | 1.1% | 1.7% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 106 | Fremont Hills MO | 1,098 | $171K | 3.9% | 1.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,544 | Genesee NY | 1,590 | $66K | 14.1% | 10.3% | 1% | C− |
| 3,545 | Hartley IA | 1,579 | $58K | 12.5% | 2.5% | 14% | C− |
| 3,546 | La Plata MO | 1,251 | $50K | 9.1% | 8.8% | 13% | C− |
| 3,547 | Denton NC | 1,610 | $51K | 14.8% | 8.8% | 8% | C− |
| 3,548 | West Turin NY | 1,680 | $69K | 13.2% | 4.5% | 6% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 La Plata, 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 La Plata: questions
What is the median household income in La Plata?
$50,000 (±$12,187) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in La Plata?
9.1%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from La Plata?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in La Plata work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kirksville (24%, 13 mi), Macon (11%, 20 mi), Moberly (4%, 42 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is La Plata walkable?
La Plata is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around La Plata without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from La Plata, from the people who make the trip.
More of La Plata
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.