Photo: Marshall Astor · CC BY-SA 2.0With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Peculiar works elsewhere
1,241 jobs are based in Peculiar, against 2,851 working residents. Peculiar grades A− for jobs and income and C for walkability. 25% of workers work from home, 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 Peculiar
Peculiar has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Peculiar went from 643 in 2013 to 1,241 in 2023, +93%. The jobs ↓
Peculiar’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Peculiar is Kansas City, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 26% of working residents (736) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Home offices are common in Peculiar
25% of Peculiar workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Peculiar
65% of Peculiar residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 44% of the jobs based in Peculiar pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 95% leave town for their job. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Peculiar
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Peculiar is better than 81% of U.S. towns, #54 of 247 in Missouri. The poverty rate is its strongest input (4.9%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (4.1%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Peculiar could be anywhere from B− to A+.
What Peculiar’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Peculiar, 2013 → 2023: 643 → 1,241. 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 Peculiar’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Peculiar
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 26 minutes each way, longer than most of Missouri
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Peculiar workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,189 commuters (the 25% 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.
Peculiar on a workday afternoon
On a workday 2,712 residents head out to work, 139 work right here, and 1,102 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,800 people are in Peculiar on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
26% of working residents work in Kansas City
Where Peculiar clocks in
26% 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.
Peculiar is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Peculiar is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns, #224 of 247 in Missouri. 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 2,921 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). 3.7% of Peculiar households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Peculiar’s commuters take a bus or train.
Peculiar is 718th of 3,255 U.S. towns of 4,500 to 8,600 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 81 | Cottleville MO | 6,717 | $131K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | Greenwood MO | 6,315 | $107K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 716 | Four Corners MT | 5,791 | $101K | 6.3% | 0.5% | 10% | A− |
| 717 | Fairfax VT | 5,455 | $129K | 5.1% | 2.1% | 9% | A− |
| 718 | Peculiar MO | 6,365 | $95K | 4.9% | 4.1% | 5% | A− |
| 719 | Kirtland OH | 6,925 | $110K | 4.7% | 5.2% | 5% | A− |
| 720 | Saratoga Township IL | 6,597 | $82K | 5.4% | 2.4% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,255 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Peculiar, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
How Peculiar compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Raymore (4%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Peculiar’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Peculiar: questions
What is the median household income in Peculiar?
$94,519 (±$22,715) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Peculiar?
4.9%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Peculiar?
26 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 25% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Peculiar work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kansas City (26%, 27 mi), Lee's Summit (7%, 14 mi), Overland Park (7%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Peculiar walkable?
Peculiar is more walkable than 28% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Peculiar without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Peculiar, from the people who make the trip.
More of Peculiar
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.