Photo: Catfilmnoir a.k.a. Carol Baier · CC BY-SA 2.0Macon has lower unemployment (1.8%) than 87% of U.S. towns
About two in five work in Macon; the top destination outside it is Moberly (9%, 22 miles). Jobs and income earn Macon C+; getting around on foot earns it B+. 5% of workers work from home; Missouri has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Macon in brief
Macon is where the jobs are
Macon has 3,208 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Macon 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 ↓
Macon’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Macon is Moberly, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (177) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Macon workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Macon’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Macon
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Macon is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #113 of 247 in Missouri. Unemployment holds Macon’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 21% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Macon could be anywhere from C to B.
In and out of Macon on a workday
On a workday 1,066 residents head out to work, 802 work right here, and 2,406 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,900 people are in Macon on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
1.7 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.
About 18 minutes each way, quicker than most of Missouri
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Macon workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,480 commuters (the 5% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Macon
About 29% 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.
The kinds of work in Macon
3,208 jobs are based in Macon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Macon, 2013 → 2023: 3,211 → 3,208. 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 Macon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting in to Macon: where workers come from
Where Macon clocks in
3% of workers
3% 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 Macon, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Macon is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns, #70 of 247 in Missouri. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.6% 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 2,601 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). 4.9% of Macon households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Macon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Macon places 2,102nd of 3,502 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Cottleville MO | 6,717 | $131K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 126 | Greenwood MO | 6,315 | $107K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,100 | Woodstock NY | 6,215 | $92K | 9.5% | 5.3% | 17% | C+ |
| 2,101 | Lehighton PA | 5,232 | $65K | 12.9% | 4.2% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,102 | Macon MO | 5,532 | $62K | 10.5% | 1.8% | 43% | C+ |
| 2,103 | Kingston TN | 6,299 | $72K | 7.1% | 8.1% | 8% | C+ |
| 2,104 | Shalersville Township OH | 5,304 | $62K | 10.5% | 5.4% | 5% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,502 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Macon, 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 Macon: questions
What is the median household income in Macon?
$61,642 (±$7,463) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Macon?
10.5%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Macon?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Macon work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Moberly (9%, 22 mi), Kirksville (3%, 32 mi), Columbia (3%, 56 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Macon walkable?
Macon is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Macon without a car?
<1% 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 Macon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Macon
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.