Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish Historic District · Photo: Moniteau · CC BY-SA 4.0Earning a living in Prairie Home
2% of workers work from home, next to 13% for Missouri as a whole. Only 1% stay in Prairie Home for work; outside it, Columbia is the main destination (32%, 17 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 27 minutes (Missouri 24, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 84 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 60 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.
0.72 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Out of Prairie Home to work: where people go
Where Prairie Home clocks in
32% of workers
19% of workers
7% 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.
In Prairie Home, services account for most jobs
61 jobs are based in Prairie Home.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Prairie Home, 2014 → 2024: 1 → 61. 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 Prairie Home’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 27 minutes in Prairie Home
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Prairie Home workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 93 commuters (the 2% 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.
How far it is to work from Prairie Home
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.
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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Prairie Home: questions
What is the median household income in Prairie Home?
$53,750 (±$23,653) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Prairie Home?
8.8%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Prairie Home?
27 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Prairie Home work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Columbia (32%, 17 mi), Boonville (19%, 13 mi), Jefferson City (7%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Prairie Home without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Prairie Home, from the people who make the trip.
More of Prairie Home
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.