Photo: Tim Kiser (w:User:Malepheasant) · CC BY-SA 2.5Households in St. Joseph earn less than those in 77% of U.S. towns
About two in three work in St. Joseph itself; outside it, Kansas City draws the most (7%, 46 miles). 17.7% of residents live below the poverty line; Missouri has 12.6%. Jobs and income earn St. Joseph C; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in St. Joseph, in brief
Most jobs in St. Joseph go to people who live here
Of the 42,233 jobs based in St. Joseph, 48% are held by St. Joseph residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Commutes from St. Joseph 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.
The four measures behind St. Joseph’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, St. Joseph is better than 33% of U.S. towns, #143 of 247 in Missouri. Job access by car holds St. Joseph’s grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, St. Joseph could be anywhere from C to C+.
Who works in St. Joseph, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 9,757 residents head out to work, 20,309 work right here, and 21,924 people come in from elsewhere.
About 83,000 people are in St. Joseph on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.40 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.
About 17 minutes to work from St. Joseph
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Joseph workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 30,046 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.
Where the trip to work from St. Joseph ends
Where St. Joseph clocks in
7% 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.
Goods, not services: 33% of the jobs in St. Joseph
42,233 jobs are based in St. Joseph.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Joseph, 2013 → 2023: 44,169 → 42,233. 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. Joseph’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far St. Joseph goes to work
About 16% 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.
Few in St. Joseph walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, St. Joseph is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns, #125 of 247 in Missouri. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% 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 32,336 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). 9.5% of St. Joseph households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of St. Joseph’s commuters take a bus or train.
St. Joseph next to U.S. towns of 50,000 to 96,000: 514th of 619 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | St. Peters MO | 61,479 | $92K | 5.6% | 2.3% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 152 | St. Charles MO | 72,561 | $86K | 7.3% | 2.9% | 13% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 191 | Blue Springs MO | 61,632 | $89K | 7.0% | 3.5% | 14% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 512 | Taylor MI | 61,279 | $61K | 18.4% | 7.0% | 10% | C |
| 513 | Elyria OH | 53,634 | $55K | 16.7% | 5.6% | 20% | C |
| 514 | St. Joseph MO | 71,001 | $58K | 17.7% | 4.3% | 68% | C |
| 515 | Victoria TX | 66,500 | $67K | 18.3% | 4.7% | 43% | C |
| 516 | Pocatello ID | 58,771 | $60K | 14.8% | 4.4% | 52% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 619 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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. Joseph, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
The towns around St. Joseph
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | St. Joseph workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Joseph | – | C | B | 17 min | $57,956 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of St. Joseph’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 St. Joseph: questions
What is the median household income in St. Joseph?
$57,956 (±$2,542) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Joseph?
17.7%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Joseph?
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 St. Joseph work?
68% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kansas City (7%, 46 mi), Wathena (1%, 6 mi), Maryville (1%, 40 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is St. Joseph walkable?
St. Joseph is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. Joseph without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Joseph, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Joseph
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.