Photo: Bill Miller · CC BY-SA 3.0Purdy has lower household incomes than 97% of U.S. towns
36.9% of residents are in poverty; Missouri has 12.6%. The two grades for Purdy are D− for jobs and income and C for walkability. 3% of workers work from home, where Missouri as a whole has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Purdy, in a few figures
Purdy and Monett trade workers both ways
Monett is the top workplace for Purdy residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Purdy come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Purdy 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 ↓
Few Purdy workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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 326 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Purdy’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Purdy is better than 4% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Purdy’s grade up (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (12.3%) is left out: Purdy’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Purdy could be anywhere from D− to C−.
18% of working residents work in Monett
Where Purdy clocks in
18% of workers
4% 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.
The daily trip from Purdy: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Purdy workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 420 commuters (the 3% 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.
Who leaves Purdy for work, and who comes in
On a workday 310 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 246 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 (0.80 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.
The 262 jobs based in Purdy
262 jobs are based in Purdy.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Purdy, 2013 → 2023: 293 → 262. 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 Purdy’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Purdy, by distance
About 24% 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.
In Purdy, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Purdy is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Purdy near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 434 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). 11.7% of Purdy households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Purdy’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Purdy compares with U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Loch Lloyd MO | 1,090 | $184K | 2.5% | 0.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Fremont Hills MO | 1,098 | $171K | 3.9% | 1.9% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Bel-Nor MO | 1,351 | $111K | 5.8% | 8.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,891 | Kinsley KS | 1,312 | $49K | 19.3% | 7.3% | 37% | D− |
| 2,892 | Earlington KY | 1,262 | $38K | 39.3% | 4.7% | 1% | D− |
| 2,893 | Purdy MO | 1,062 | $37K | 36.9% | 12.3% | 5% | D− |
| 2,894 | Ames TX | 1,282 | $36K | 25.4% | 7.4% | <1% | D− |
| 2,895 | Johnson VT | 1,326 | $49K | 17.5% | 14.4% | 2% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Purdy, 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 Purdy: questions
What is the median household income in Purdy?
$36,711 (±$10,872) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Purdy?
36.9%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Purdy?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Purdy work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Monett (18%, 7 mi), Cassville (7%, 10 mi), Springfield (4%, 43 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Purdy walkable?
Purdy is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Purdy without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Purdy, from the people who make the trip.
More of Purdy
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.