College students make up 26% of Polk Township’s residents
5% of workers have no commute at all, where Missouri as a whole has 13%. For jobs and income Polk Township is better than 35% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (B+). About half work in Polk Township; the top destination outside it is Maryville (45%, 1 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Polk Township
Commutes from Polk Township are quick
The average trip to work takes 12 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker, and quicker than any town next door (17 to 26 minutes). Time on the road ↓
Polk Township and Maryville trade workers both ways
Maryville is the top workplace for Polk Township residents (45%) and also where the most people who work in Polk Township come from (31% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A young workforce
30% of Polk Township’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, 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 Polk Township
The poverty rate holds Polk Township’s grade up (9.2%, U.S. 11.9%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns).
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (18% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 9.2%, against 19.7% for all residents. Unemployment (2.4%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($85,891), since student households pull the household median down ($57,294).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Polk Township could be anywhere from C− to B.
Commuting from Polk Township: about 12 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Polk Township workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,557 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 Polk Township’s working residents head each day
Where Polk Township clocks in
10% of workers
5% 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.
What work there is in Polk Township: 6,650 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Polk Township, 2014 → 2024: 6,346 → 6,650. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Polk Township’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Polk Township by day and by night
On a workday 2,912 residents head out to work, 2,720 work right here, and 3,930 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 (1.18 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The distance from Polk Township 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most trips from Polk Township start in a car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,927 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). 8.2% of Polk Township households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Polk Township’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Polk Township is 1,538th of 2,059 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 18,000
| # | 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% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Town and Country MO | 11,619 | $233K | 1.7% | 2.5% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Dardenne Prairie MO | 15,032 | $153K | 1.3% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 118 | Crestwood MO | 12,207 | $107K | 5.5% | 1.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,536 | Fort Lupton CO | 10,402 | $81K | 17.6% | 8.4% | 9% | C |
| 1,537 | Bedford IN | 13,962 | $50K | 16.2% | 2.3% | 27% | C |
| 1,538 | Polk Township MO | 13,673 | $57K | 19.7% | 2.4% | 48% | C |
| 1,539 | Vienna Township MI | 13,001 | $70K | 12.3% | 7.2% | 6% | C |
| 1,540 | Saddlebrooke AZ | 13,085 | $89K | 5.4% | 9.3% | 8% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,059 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Polk Township, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
Around Polk Township: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Polk Township workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polk Township | – | C | B+ | 12 min | $57,294 |
| Union Township | under 1% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| White Cloud Township | under 1% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Nodaway Township | under 1% | — | — | 26 min | — |
| Monroe Township | under 1% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Green Township | under 1% | — | — | 17 min | — |
| Jackson Township | under 1% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Jefferson Township | under 1% | — | — | 24 min | — |
| Grant Township | under 1% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| Hughes Township | under 1% | — | — | 23 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Union Township, White Cloud Township, Nodaway Township, Monroe Township, Green Township, Jefferson Township, Grant Township and Hughes Township: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Jackson Township: not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Polk Township’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 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Students. 26% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Polk Township: questions
What is the median household income in Polk Township?
$57,294 (±$2,871) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Polk Township?
19.7% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 9.2%. Missouri: 12.6%.
How long is the commute from Polk Township?
12 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Polk Township work?
48% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Maryville (45%, 1 mi), St. Joseph (10%, 41 mi), Kansas City (5%, 86 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Polk Township walkable?
Polk Township is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Polk Township without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Polk Township, from the people who make the trip.
More of Polk Township
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.