Bagnell Dam and Osage Power Plant · Photo: KTrimble · CC0Lake Ozark draws 1,776 commuters a day, with 2.4 jobs for every working resident
Commuters spend 22 minutes getting to work on average; Missouri averages 24, the U.S. 26. Employers in Lake Ozark report 1,855 jobs, and 766 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Lake Ozark are C 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
Getting to work from Lake Ozark, in brief
Lake Ozark is where the jobs are
Lake Ozark has 1,855 jobs, 2.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,300 people are in town, 48% more than the 2,200 who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Lake Ozark workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Lake Ozark’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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 766 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Lake Ozark’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lake Ozark is better than 26% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Lake Ozark’s grade up (4.3%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (18.6%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake Ozark could be anywhere from D to B.
The daily commute in and out of Lake Ozark
On a workday 687 residents head out to work and 79 work right here.
About 3,300 people are in Lake Ozark on a workday afternoon, 48% more than live here.
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 Lake Ozark’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Ozark, 2013 → 2023: 1,708 → 1,855. 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 Lake Ozark’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who travels to work in Lake Ozark, and from where
Where Lake Ozark clocks in
22% of workers
7% 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 trip to work from Lake Ozark: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Ozark workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,090 commuters (the 7% 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.
The distance from Lake Ozark to work
About 26% 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.
Most of Lake Ozark commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lake Ozark is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 1,172 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). 5.3% of Lake Ozark households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lake Ozark’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Lake Ozark is 3,479th among 5,102 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 46 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,477 | Warren VT | 1,965 | $87K | 15.7% | 2.4% | 31% | C |
| 3,478 | Ocilla GA | 2,837 | $41K | 26.2% | 0.0% | 20% | C |
| 3,479 | Lake Ozark MO | 2,247 | $74K | 18.6% | 4.3% | 10% | C |
| 3,480 | Paden City WV | 2,381 | $66K | 12.2% | 4.5% | 4% | C |
| 3,481 | Fairview Township KS | 1,660 | $62K | 13.1% | 0.0% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,102 | 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 Lake Ozark, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
22% of Lake Ozark works in a town next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake Ozark workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Ozark | – | C | B− | 22 min | $74,176 |
| Osage Beach | 22% | C | B+ | 18 min | $55,994 |
| Bagnell | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Bagnell: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Osage Beach. Darker towns draw more of Lake Ozark’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 Lake Ozark: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Ozark?
$74,176 (±$12,719) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Ozark?
18.6%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Ozark?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Ozark work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Osage Beach (22%, 5 mi), Jefferson City (7%, 35 mi), Springfield (4%, 78 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lake Ozark walkable?
Lake Ozark is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Ozark without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Ozark, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Ozark
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.