Photo: Hog Farm · CC BY-SA 4.0At 1.5%, unemployment in Sparta is lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Sparta are B for jobs and income and C for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 5% of workers; Missouri has 13%. Only 4% work in Sparta; the top destination outside it is Springfield (45%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sparta at work: what stands out
Nearly half of Sparta works in Springfield
372 working residents, 45%, have their main job in Springfield, 18 miles away. That’s 11 times as many as work in Sparta itself. The commute map ↓
Sparta workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 39 minutes each way, against 24 across Missouri. Over a year that’s about 299 hours of commuting, 115 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 825 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Sparta’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sparta is better than 55% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Sparta’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($63,182, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sparta could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Where Sparta’s working residents head each day
Where Sparta clocks in
45% 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.
About 39 minutes each way, longer than most of Missouri
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sparta workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,047 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.
Who leaves Sparta for work, and who comes in
On a workday 788 residents head out to work, 37 work right here, and 364 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Sparta on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.49 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 Sparta’s employers do
401 jobs are based in Sparta.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sparta, 2013 → 2023: 294 → 401. 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 Sparta’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Sparta
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.
Driving is how Sparta gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sparta is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% 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 1,100 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). 5.1% of Sparta households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sparta’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,234 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,600, Sparta comes 1,843rd 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,841 | Bucks Township OH | 1,892 | $73K | 4.9% | 1.0% | 3% | B |
| 1,842 | New Haven VT | 1,742 | $92K | 3.1% | 4.9% | 5% | B |
| 1,843 | Sparta MO | 1,953 | $63K | 11.9% | 1.5% | 4% | B |
| 1,844 | Cardington OH | 2,247 | $70K | 10.3% | 2.7% | 7% | B |
| 1,845 | Willow Springs Township KS | 1,576 | $91K | 12.5% | 0.2% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Sparta, 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 Sparta: questions
What is the median household income in Sparta?
$63,182 (±$9,625) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sparta?
11.9%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sparta?
39 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sparta work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Springfield (45%, 18 mi), Ozark (13%, 8 mi), Branson (3%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sparta walkable?
Sparta is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sparta without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sparta, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sparta
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.