Photo: LittleT889 · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes put Ladue near the very top of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Ladue is among the highest-earning towns in the country. 1.1% of residents live below the poverty line; Missouri has 12.6%. The two grades for Ladue are A+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Ladue
Most Ladue residents work close to home
75% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about three in four. Only 7% work more than 50 miles away. How far ↓
Commutes from Ladue are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker, and quicker than any town next door (17 to 25 minutes). Time on the road ↓
Ladue is where the jobs are
Ladue has 6,450 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Ladue draws workers from far and wide
The 6,450 jobs in Ladue are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 30%; the other 67% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Ladue and St. Louis trade workers both ways
St. Louis is the top workplace for Ladue residents (21%) and also where the most people who work in Ladue come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Ladue’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ladue is among the top U.S. towns, #3 of 247 in Missouri. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Ladue’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
The Census reports Ladue’s median household income as $250,000+, the top of its scale; the grade ranks it as tied with the 111 other graded places at that ceiling.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ladue stays A+.
How far Ladue goes to work
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.
How long Ladue spends getting to work: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ladue workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,065 commuters (the 23% 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.
Ladue on a workday afternoon
On a workday 3,166 residents head out to work, 180 work right here, and 6,270 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Ladue 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.
Commuting in to Ladue: where workers come from
Where Ladue clocks in
21% of workers
10% 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.
The kinds of work in Ladue
6,450 jobs are based in Ladue.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ladue, 2013 → 2023: 5,494 → 6,450. 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 Ladue’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Ladue gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ladue is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns, #175 of 247 in Missouri. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below 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 3,997 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 22% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 57% 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). 0.9% of Ladue households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ladue’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,862 U.S. towns of 6,300 to 12,100, Ladue comes 5th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 4 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 5 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| 6 | Lawrence NY | 6,847 | $170K | 3.5% | 3.9% | 7% | A+ |
| 7 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Town and Country MO | 11,619 | $233K | 1.7% | 2.5% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Parkville MO | 9,093 | $171K | 2.0% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,862 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Ladue, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
10% of Ladue works in a town next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ladue workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ladue | – | A+ | B− | 14 min | $250,000+ |
| University City | under 2% | B | A+ | 22 min | $80,694 |
| Richmond Heights | under 2% | A | A− | 18 min | $94,460 |
| Rock Hill | under 2% | A | B+ | 20 min | $95,372 |
| Huntleigh | under 2% | — | — | 17 min | — |
| Warson Woods | under 2% | A+ | B+ | 21 min | $206,979 |
| Clayton | 10% | A | A+ | 17 min | $123,000 |
| Frontenac | under 2% | A+ | C+ | 25 min | $233,425 |
Same-state neighbors only. Huntleigh: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Clayton. Darker towns draw more of Ladue’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.
- A ceiling on income. The Census stops at $250,000+, so the true median may be higher.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Ladue: questions
What is the median household income in Ladue?
$250,000+ (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ladue?
1.1%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ladue?
14 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ladue work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Louis (21%, 8 mi), Clayton (10%, 3 mi), Creve Coeur (6%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ladue walkable?
Ladue is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ladue without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ladue, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ladue
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.