Photo: Doug Kerr · CC BY-SA 2.0A job hub: St. James has 2.0 jobs per working resident, and 2,852 people come in to work
There are 3,166 jobs in St. James, against 1,575 working residents. Jobs and income earn St. James D; getting around on foot earns it A−. Household incomes here are lower than in 83% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets St. James apart on work
St. James is where the jobs are
St. James has 3,166 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 5,500 people are in town, 41% more than the 3,900 who live here. Day and night ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
51% of the jobs in St. James are in trade, transport and utilities, against 24% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 St. James
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, St. James is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #225 of 247 in Missouri. Job access by car holds St. James’ grade up (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (7.5%, U.S. 5.2%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, St. James could be anywhere from D− to B.
St. James by day and by night
On a workday 1,261 residents head out to work and 314 work right here.
About 5,500 people are in St. James on a workday afternoon, 41% more than live here.
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 kinds of work in St. James
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. James, 2013 → 2023: 2,709 → 3,166. 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 St. James’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from St. James
About 31% 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.
Commuting in to St. James: where workers come from
Where St. James clocks in
23% 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.
Commuting from St. James: about 20 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. James workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,360 commuters (the 9% 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.
St. James is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, St. James is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #59 of 247 in Missouri. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.2% across Missouri, on an EPA index of 7.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,502 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). 9.0% of St. James households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of St. James’ commuters take a bus or train.
How St. James compares with U.S. towns of 2,700 to 5,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | St. Paul MO | 3,849 | $159K | 0.5% | 0.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 184 | Frontenac MO | 3,790 | $233K | 2.0% | 4.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 289 | Rock Hill MO | 4,668 | $95K | 5.2% | 2.6% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,967 | Breckenridge MN | 3,323 | $59K | 22.2% | 6.8% | 22% | D |
| 3,968 | Portageville MO | 2,702 | $52K | 17.5% | 6.0% | 25% | D |
| 3,969 | St. James MO | 3,925 | $53K | 19.4% | 7.5% | 20% | D |
| 3,970 | Winnsboro TX | 3,678 | $55K | 16.4% | 8.0% | 18% | D |
| 3,971 | Hancock NY | 2,717 | $62K | 13.0% | 7.7% | 28% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,364 | 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 St. James, 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 St. James: questions
What is the median household income in St. James?
$53,453 (±$9,946) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. James?
19.4%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. James?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. James work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rolla (23%, 9 mi), Cuba (4%, 12 mi), Jefferson City (3%, 50 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is St. James walkable?
St. James is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. James without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. James, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. James
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.