Wilson Larimore House · Photo: National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior · Public domainSpanish Lake has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Measured by household income, Spanish Lake is behind 80% of U.S. towns. There are 2,218 jobs in Spanish Lake for 6,943 working residents. For jobs and income Spanish Lake is better than 34% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Spanish Lake: the gist
How Spanish Lake earns its Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Spanish Lake’s grade up (ahead of 91% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (7.2%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Spanish Lake could be anywhere from C− to B−.
21% of working residents work in St. Louis
Where Spanish Lake clocks in
21% 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.
Spanish Lake on a workday afternoon
On a workday 6,797 residents head out to work, 146 work right here, and 2,072 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Spanish Lake on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spanish Lake, 2014 → 2024: 1,968 → 2,218. 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 Spanish Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 25 minutes each way, about the MO average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Spanish Lake workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,575 commuters (the 10% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Spanish Lake
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.
In Spanish Lake, the car does most of the work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.2% 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 8,398 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 87% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 6% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 71% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 9.9% of Spanish Lake households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Spanish Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Spanish Lake places 1,420th of 1,822 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 13,000 to 24,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Dardenne Prairie MO | 15,032 | $153K | 1.3% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 144 | Creve Coeur MO | 18,480 | $127K | 6.1% | 2.6% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 202 | Webster Groves MO | 23,450 | $115K | 4.2% | 3.7% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,418 | Opa-locka FL | 16,177 | $38K | 29.7% | 4.1% | 3% | C |
| 1,419 | Killingly CT | 18,177 | $84K | 11.4% | 10.3% | 21% | C |
| 1,420 | Spanish Lake MO | 17,873 | $56K | 14.8% | 7.2% | 2% | C |
| 1,421 | Marshall MN | 14,171 | $69K | 16.9% | 3.7% | 65% | C |
| 1,422 | Newton NC | 13,822 | $62K | 12.0% | 6.2% | 12% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,822 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Spanish Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
Bordering towns draw 21% of Spanish Lake’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Spanish Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish Lake | – | C | B+ | 25 min | $55,920 |
| Bellefontaine Neighbors | under 3% | C | A | 27 min | $49,170 |
| Glasgow Village | under 3% | C− | A | 23 min | $29,530 |
| Old Jamestown | under 3% | B+ | B | 29 min | $99,521 |
| St. Louis | 21% | C+ | A+ | 22 min | $56,160 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to St. Louis. Darker towns draw more of Spanish Lake’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 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 Spanish Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Spanish Lake?
$55,920 (±$4,576) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spanish Lake?
14.8%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Spanish Lake?
25 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Spanish Lake work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Louis (21%, 11 mi), Maryland Heights (5%, 15 mi), Hazelwood (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Spanish Lake walkable?
Spanish Lake is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 11.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Spanish Lake without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 6% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spanish Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spanish Lake
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. 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.