Photo: Thomas R Machnitzki (thomasmachnitzki.com) · CC BY 3.0Steele has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Employers in Steele report 339 jobs, and 657 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Steele are D− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Steele is behind 82% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Steele: the gist
Fewer jobs are based in Steele than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Steele fell from 472 in 2013 to 339 in 2023, −28%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Few Steele workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Steele are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 38 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; with 657 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Steele earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Steele is better than 4% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Steele’s grade.
Unemployment (16.0%) is left out: Steele’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Steele could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Jobs in Steele: what the 339 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Steele, 2013 → 2023: 472 → 339. 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 Steele’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 19 minutes in Steele
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Steele workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 606 commuters (the 2% 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.
How a workday changes Steele
On a workday 575 residents head out to work, 82 work right here, and 257 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Steele on a workday afternoon, 19% 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 2023, primary jobs.
10% of working residents work in Blytheville
Where Steele clocks in
10% of workers
5% of workers
5% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Steele
About 29% 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.
Getting around Steele: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Steele is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.5% 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 618 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). 7.4% of Steele households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Steele’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300, and where Steele sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 55 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 56 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,318 | Buffalo TX | 1,906 | $45K | 18.4% | 7.6% | 15% | D− |
| 5,319 | Lake Village AR | 1,833 | $41K | 18.8% | 10.5% | 35% | D− |
| 5,320 | Steele MO | 1,692 | $55K | 24.4% | 16.0% | 12% | D− |
| 5,321 | West Jefferson NC | 1,348 | $47K | 20.8% | 12.7% | 13% | D− |
| 5,322 | Rotan TX | 1,333 | $53K | 19.4% | 4.2% | 28% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Steele, 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 Steele: questions
What is the median household income in Steele?
$54,600 (±$10,297) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Steele?
24.4%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Steele?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Steele work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Blytheville (10%, 11 mi), Gosnell (5%, 11 mi), Hayti (5%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Steele walkable?
Steele is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Steele without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Steele, from the people who make the trip.
More of Steele
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.