Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Mountain View’s household incomes are lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
4% of workers work from home (Missouri 13%). The poverty rate is 29.4%, against 12.6% across Missouri. For jobs and income Mountain View is better than 3% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (C).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Mountain View in brief
A big share show a job far from home
33% 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 ↓
Fewer than half of Mountain View workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Mountain View’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Mountain View 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 ↓
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; with 827 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Mountain View gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Unemployment holds Mountain View’s grade up (6.2%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($38,942, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mountain View could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Miles to work from Mountain View
About 33% 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 1,004 jobs based in Mountain View
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mountain View, 2013 → 2023: 1,308 → 1,004. 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 Mountain View’s own residents hold wherever they work.
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 Mountain View workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 866 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.
A workday in Mountain View: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 633 residents head out to work, 194 work right here, and 810 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 (1.21 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.
14% of working residents work in West Plains
Where Mountain View clocks in
14% of workers
9% 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.
Getting around Mountain View: mostly by car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 907 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). 13.1% of Mountain View households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mountain View’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Mountain View compares with U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Clarkson Valley MO | 2,540 | $247K | 3.0% | 2.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,583 | Louisa KY | 2,520 | $40K | 22.3% | 11.1% | 34% | D− |
| 4,584 | Barbourville KY | 3,064 | $22K | 51.8% | 8.6% | 34% | D− |
| 4,585 | Mountain View MO | 2,661 | $39K | 29.4% | 6.2% | 23% | D− |
| 4,586 | Stigler OK | 2,749 | $43K | 18.8% | 9.0% | 35% | D− |
| 4,587 | McColl SC | 1,974 | $27K | 41.9% | 9.0% | 4% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,797 | 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 Mountain View, 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 Mountain View: questions
What is the median household income in Mountain View?
$38,942 (±$13,008) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mountain View?
29.4%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mountain View?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mountain View work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are West Plains (14%, 20 mi), Springfield (9%, 89 mi), Willow Springs (3%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mountain View walkable?
Mountain View is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mountain View without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mountain View, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mountain View
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.