Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 3.0St. Joseph draws more than half of Savannah’s working residents
7% of workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. The two grades for Savannah are B for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About one in ten stay in Savannah for work; outside it, St. Joseph is the main destination (53%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Savannah: the figures worth knowing
More than half of Savannah works in St. Joseph
1,132 working residents, 53%, have their main job in St. Joseph, 12 miles away. That’s 4 times as many as work in Savannah itself. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Savannah are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Missouri worker. 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Savannah
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Savannah is better than 64% of U.S. towns, #82 of 247 in Missouri. The poverty rate holds Savannah’s grade up (4.4%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($62,535, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Savannah could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
Where people from Savannah work
Where Savannah clocks in
53% of workers
8% 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.
Getting to work from Savannah takes about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Savannah workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,376 commuters (the 7% 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.
In and out of Savannah on a workday
On a workday 1,872 residents head out to work, 246 work right here, and 905 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,100 people are in Savannah on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.54 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 2023, primary jobs.
What the 1,151 jobs in Savannah are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Savannah, 2013 → 2023: 1,219 → 1,151. 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 Savannah’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Savannah to work
About 21% 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.
Most of Savannah commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Savannah is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns, #177 of 247 in Missouri. Both inputs place Savannah 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 2,545 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). 3.1% of Savannah households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Savannah’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,600 to 6,900, Savannah ranks 1,447th of 3,627 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | St. Paul MO | 3,849 | $159K | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Cottleville MO | 6,717 | $131K | 2.0% | 2.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,445 | Liberty Township IN | 4,742 | $85K | 6.8% | 3.8% | 12% | B |
| 1,446 | Pecan Acres TX | 4,161 | $114K | 7.9% | 10.1% | 2% | B |
| 1,447 | Savannah MO | 5,107 | $63K | 4.4% | 2.4% | 12% | B |
| 1,448 | Ontwa Township MI | 6,839 | $61K | 10.1% | 1.3% | 9% | B |
| 1,449 | Berlin Township NJ | 6,060 | $75K | 10.9% | 4.2% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,627 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Savannah, 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 Savannah: questions
What is the median household income in Savannah?
$62,535 (±$3,811) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Savannah?
4.4%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Savannah?
17 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Savannah work?
12% work in town.
Is Savannah walkable?
Savannah is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Savannah without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Savannah, from the people who make the trip.
More of Savannah
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.