Photo: Chasealpha1 at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in Seymour (1.7%) than in 88% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 5% of workers, next to 13% for Missouri as a whole. Seymour grades C for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Measured by household income, Seymour is behind 86% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Seymour at work: what stands out
30% of Seymour works in Springfield
185 working residents, 30%, have their main job in Springfield, 29 miles away. That’s twice as many as work in Seymour itself. The commute map ↓
Seymour workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 24 across Missouri. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 54 more than the state’s typical 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; with 622 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Seymour: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Seymour is better than 29% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Seymour’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (31.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Seymour could be anywhere from C− to C+.
30% of working residents work in Springfield
Where Seymour clocks in
30% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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 trip to work from Seymour: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Seymour workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 935 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Seymour
On a workday 528 residents head out to work, 94 work right here, and 798 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Seymour on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.43 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.
Goods, not services: 34% of the jobs in Seymour
892 jobs are based in Seymour.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Seymour, 2013 → 2023: 777 → 892. 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 Seymour’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Seymour works
About 17% 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.
The commute in Seymour is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Seymour is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.2% across Missouri.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 983 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). 11.4% of Seymour households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Seymour’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,234 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,600, Seymour comes 3,276th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 49 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 50 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,274 | Mount Pleasant Township OH | 2,165 | $72K | 10.7% | 3.0% | 3% | C |
| 3,275 | Nashville MI | 1,605 | $56K | 9.7% | 1.7% | 3% | C |
| 3,276 | Seymour MO | 1,960 | $52K | 31.4% | 1.7% | 15% | C |
| 3,277 | Phelps NY | 1,850 | $71K | 14.7% | 7.6% | 3% | C |
| 3,278 | Neillsville WI | 2,367 | $60K | 15.1% | 3.1% | 40% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,234 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Seymour, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
The towns around Seymour
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Seymour workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seymour | – | C | B− | 31 min | $51,591 |
| Diggins | under 1% | — | — | 40 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Diggins: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Seymour’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 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 Seymour: questions
What is the median household income in Seymour?
$51,591 (±$5,137) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Seymour?
31.4%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Seymour?
31 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Seymour work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (30%, 29 mi), Ava (4%, 14 mi), Marshfield (3%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Seymour walkable?
Seymour is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Seymour without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Seymour, from the people who make the trip.
More of Seymour
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.