Photo: Kbh3rd · CC BY 4.0At 2.0%, unemployment in Mount Vernon is lower than in 85% of U.S. towns
About one in four stay in Mount Vernon for work; outside it, Springfield is the main destination (24%, 30 miles). The two grades for Mount Vernon are C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Mount Vernon is behind 84% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Mount Vernon apart on work
Inside Mount Vernon’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mount Vernon is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #114 of 247 in Missouri. Unemployment holds Mount Vernon’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($53,255, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mount Vernon could be anywhere from C− to B.
Near or far: the trip to work from Mount Vernon
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.
A workday in Mount Vernon: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,500 residents head out to work, 461 work right here, and 2,017 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,400 people are in Mount Vernon on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.26 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.
Where the trip to work from Mount Vernon ends
Where Mount Vernon clocks in
24% of workers
6% 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.
Jobs in Mount Vernon: what the 2,478 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mount Vernon, 2013 → 2023: 3,132 → 2,478. 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 Mount Vernon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Mount Vernon: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mount Vernon workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,876 commuters (the 8% 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.
For most of Mount Vernon, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mount Vernon is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns, #88 of 247 in Missouri. Both inputs place Mount Vernon near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,050 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). 10.5% of Mount Vernon households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mount Vernon’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Mount Vernon ranks: 2,251st of 3,753 U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 4 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | St. Paul MO | 3,849 | $159K | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 128 | Greenwood MO | 6,315 | $107K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,249 | Johnson Township IN | 3,787 | $71K | 10.6% | 2.9% | 16% | C+ |
| 2,250 | Corning NY | 5,734 | $88K | 8.2% | 8.1% | 12% | C+ |
| 2,251 | Mount Vernon MO | 4,835 | $53K | 13.8% | 2.0% | 24% | C+ |
| 2,252 | Hollister MO | 4,690 | $54K | 10.2% | 2.4% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,253 | Copperopolis CA | 4,285 | $108K | 7.4% | 5.6% | 5% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,753 | 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 Mount Vernon, 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 Mount Vernon: questions
What is the median household income in Mount Vernon?
$53,255 (±$8,726) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mount Vernon?
13.8%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mount Vernon?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mount Vernon work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (24%, 30 mi), Monett (6%, 14 mi), Joplin (4%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mount Vernon walkable?
Mount Vernon is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mount Vernon without a car?
0% 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 Mount Vernon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mount Vernon
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.