Preston draws 94 commuters a day, with 1.8 jobs for every working resident
Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, against 13% across Missouri. 94 jobs are based in Preston; 51 of its residents have a job. Hardly any work in Preston itself; outside it, Springfield draws the most (10%, 52 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The daily flow of workers through Preston
On a workday 51 residents head out to work and none work right here.
About 220 people are in Preston on a workday afternoon, 24% more 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.
Commuting in to Preston: where workers come from
Where Preston clocks in
10% of workers
6% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 53% of the jobs in Preston
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Preston, 2013 → 2023: 46 → 94. 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 Preston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 40 minutes in Preston
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Preston workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 132 commuters (the 4% 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 Preston’s workers travel
About 43% 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.
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 Preston: questions
What is the median household income in Preston?
$40,417 (±$17,492) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Preston?
30.8%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Preston?
40 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Preston work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (10%, 52 mi), Wheatland (8%, 10 mi), Hermitage (6%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Preston without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 19% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Preston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Preston
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.