Todd M. Sr. George House · Photo: 25or6to4 · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Lee's Summit top those of 79% of U.S. towns
21% of workers have no commute at all, against 13% across Missouri. 5.7% of residents live below the poverty line (Missouri 12.6%). For jobs and income Lee's Summit is better than 85% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Lee's Summit apart
Lee's Summit trades workers with the towns around it
Lee's Summit has about as many jobs (42,204) as working residents (48,826), but they are mostly different people: 38,997 residents leave for work each day while 32,375 people come in. Only 23% of the jobs in Lee's Summit are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Lee's Summit works one town over
36% of working residents work in a town that borders Lee's Summit: Kansas City (31%) and Independence (5%). Next door ↓
A lot of Lee's Summit works from home
21% of Lee's Summit workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. 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.
Lee's Summit’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Job access by car is its strongest input; unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.8%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lee's Summit could be anywhere from A− to A.
The daily flow of workers through Lee's Summit
On a workday 38,997 residents head out to work, 9,829 work right here, and 32,375 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.86 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
From Lee's Summit, about 25 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lee's Summit workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 41,790 commuters (the 21% 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.
31% of working residents work in Kansas City
Where Lee's Summit clocks in
31% of workers
5% 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 Lee's Summit
42,204 jobs are based in Lee's Summit.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lee's Summit, 2013 → 2023: 35,680 → 42,204. 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 Lee's Summit’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Lee's Summit, by distance
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.
In Lee's Summit, the car does most of the work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% 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 52,764 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 3% 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 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 41% 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). 3.5% of Lee's Summit households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Lee's Summit’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
How Lee's Summit ranks: 69th of 403 U.S. towns of 75,000 to 145,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| 3 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | O'Fallon MO | 96,101 | $110K | 5.4% | 2.7% | 15% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | Mission Viejo CA | 90,484 | $136K | 5.6% | 5.2% | 9% | A |
| 68 | Livonia MI | 92,603 | $98K | 4.7% | 4.6% | 16% | A |
| 69 | Lee's Summit MO | 107,514 | $103K | 5.7% | 3.8% | 20% | A |
| 70 | Queen Creek AZ | 89,770 | $142K | 3.7% | 4.3% | 8% | A− |
| 71 | York Township IL | 128,137 | $112K | 6.1% | 5.0% | 18% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 192 | Columbia MO | 130,851 | $66K | 19.3% | 4.0% | 69% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 318 | Independence MO | 121,675 | $60K | 15.8% | 5.6% | 16% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 403 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | 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 Lee's Summit, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
36% of Lee's Summit works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Kansas City (31%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lee's Summit workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee's Summit | – | A | B− | 25 min | $102,531 |
| Independence | 5% | C+ | B+ | 24 min | $60,339 |
| Kansas City | 31% | B− | A | 22 min | $69,166 |
| Unity Village | under 2% | — | — | 11 min | — |
| Lake Winnebago | under 2% | A+ | D | 27 min | $178,565 |
| Greenwood | under 2% | A+ | C− | 27 min | $107,250 |
| Lake Lotawana | under 2% | A | C | 28 min | $165,962 |
Same-state neighbors only. Unity Village: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lee's Summit’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 Lee's Summit: questions
What is the median household income in Lee's Summit?
$102,531 (±$3,833) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lee's Summit?
5.7%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lee's Summit?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lee's Summit work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kansas City (31%, 17 mi), Overland Park (7%, 17 mi), Independence (5%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lee's Summit walkable?
Lee's Summit is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lee's Summit without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lee's Summit, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lee's Summit
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.