Moberly Junior High School · Photo: TheCatalyst31 · CC0Household incomes in Moberly are lower than in 93% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Moberly D; getting around on foot earns it B−. Below the poverty line: 18.4% of residents; Missouri has 12.6%. About two in five work in Moberly; the top destination outside it is Columbia (17%, 33 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Moberly stands out on work
Moberly’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Moberly is Columbia, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 17% of working residents (861) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Moberly are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker. Time on the road ↓
Moberly draws workers from far and wide
The 6,763 jobs in Moberly are filled from a wide area. Moberly’s own residents hold 29% and the ten next-biggest home towns 15%; the other 56% come from many towns beyond those. 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Moberly
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Moberly is better than 11% of U.S. towns, #220 of 247 in Missouri. Job access by car holds Moberly’s grade up (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($44,145, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Moberly could be anywhere from D to C.
The distance from Moberly to work
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.
About 19 minutes to work from Moberly
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Moberly workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,154 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.
Where people from Moberly work
Where Moberly clocks in
17% 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 daily commute in and out of Moberly
On a workday 3,107 residents head out to work, 1,972 work right here, and 4,791 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Moberly on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.33 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.
The 6,763 jobs based in Moberly
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Moberly, 2013 → 2023: 6,920 → 6,763. 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 Moberly’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most of Moberly commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Moberly is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns, #160 of 247 in Missouri. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% 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 5,452 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). 9.5% of Moberly households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Moberly’s commuters take a bus or train.
Moberly next to U.S. towns of 10,000 to 19,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Town and Country MO | 11,619 | $233K | 1.7% | 2.5% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Dardenne Prairie MO | 15,032 | $153K | 1.3% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 128 | Crestwood MO | 12,207 | $107K | 5.5% | 1.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,116 | Tahlequah OK | 17,508 | $50K | 18.4% | 6.3% | 38% | D |
| 2,117 | Streator IL | 12,190 | $58K | 20.3% | 7.9% | 24% | D |
| 2,118 | Moberly MO | 13,719 | $44K | 18.4% | 6.5% | 39% | D |
| 2,119 | Robstown TX | 10,324 | $34K | 32.2% | 8.2% | 16% | D |
| 2,120 | McComb MS | 11,697 | $41K | 27.1% | 5.6% | 35% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,227 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Moberly, 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 Moberly: questions
What is the median household income in Moberly?
$44,145 (±$5,133) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Moberly?
18.4%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Moberly?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Moberly work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (17%, 33 mi), Jefferson City (4%, 60 mi), Huntsville (2%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Moberly walkable?
Moberly is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Moberly without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Moberly, from the people who make the trip.
More of Moberly
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.