St. Jude's Episcopal Church · Photo: Sa magnuson33 · CC BY-SA 3.0At 0.8%, unemployment in Monroe City is lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 80% of U.S. towns. The two grades for Monroe City are C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 3% of workers have no commute at all, next to 13% for Missouri as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Monroe City
Monroe City trades workers with the towns around it
Monroe City has about as many jobs (1,194) as working residents (1,086), but they are mostly different people: 852 residents leave for work each day while 960 people come in. Only 20% of the jobs in Monroe City are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Few Monroe City workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Monroe City
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Monroe City is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #121 of 247 in Missouri. Unemployment holds Monroe City’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 18% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Monroe City could be anywhere from C to B−.
Monroe City by day and by night
On a workday 852 residents head out to work, 234 work right here, and 960 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 (1.10 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 daily trip from Monroe City: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Monroe City workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,285 commuters (the 3% 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 Monroe City to work
About 30% 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.
Where people from Monroe City work
Where Monroe City clocks in
13% of workers
5% 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.
Goods, not services: 32% of the jobs in Monroe City
1,194 jobs are based in Monroe City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monroe City, 2013 → 2023: 1,387 → 1,194. 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 Monroe City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Monroe City is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Monroe City is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns, #108 of 247 in Missouri. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.2% 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 1,324 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). 12.1% of Monroe City households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Monroe City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Monroe City is 2,876th of 4,969 U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,700 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Clarkson Valley MO | 2,540 | $247K | 3.0% | 2.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,874 | Limestone Township PA | 1,952 | $72K | 9.6% | 2.5% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,875 | Gray GA | 3,567 | $73K | 7.4% | 7.0% | 13% | C+ |
| 2,876 | Monroe City MO | 2,714 | $56K | 12.7% | 0.8% | 22% | C+ |
| 2,877 | McChord AFB WA | 2,999 | $55K | 14.4% | 0.0% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,878 | Odem TX | 2,291 | $69K | 11.5% | 5.9% | 7% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,969 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Monroe City, 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 Monroe City: questions
What is the median household income in Monroe City?
$55,737 (±$12,170) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monroe City?
12.7%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monroe City?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Monroe City work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hannibal (13%, 18 mi), Columbia (5%, 58 mi), Quincy (3%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Monroe City walkable?
Monroe City is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Monroe City without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Monroe City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monroe City
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.