Photo: TCP04 · CC BY 4.0Sullivan has higher unemployment (5.9%) than 73% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 5% of workers, where Missouri as a whole has 13%. Jobs and income earn Sullivan C; getting around on foot earns it A−. About one in four stay in Sullivan for work; outside it, Union is the main destination (4%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What’s behind Sullivan’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sullivan is better than 27% of U.S. towns, #160 of 247 in Missouri. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Sullivan’s grade.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sullivan could be anywhere from D to B.
The daily commute in and out of Sullivan
On a workday 2,108 residents head out to work, 749 work right here, and 3,323 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,200 people are in Sullivan on a workday afternoon, 18% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.43 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.
Where Sullivan goes to work
Where Sullivan clocks in
4% 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.
The kinds of work in Sullivan
4,072 jobs are based in Sullivan.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sullivan, 2013 → 2023: 4,184 → 4,072. 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 Sullivan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Sullivan’s commute takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sullivan workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,695 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.
The distance from Sullivan to work
About 25% 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.
Sullivan 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, Sullivan is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #31 of 247 in Missouri. Both inputs place Sullivan near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,850 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). 3.1% of Sullivan households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sullivan’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 3,167 U.S. towns of 4,900 to 9,400, Sullivan comes 2,477th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,475 | Benton IL | 6,558 | $54K | 17.7% | 3.9% | 18% | C |
| 2,476 | Iron Mountain MI | 7,469 | $59K | 13.5% | 4.2% | 43% | C |
| 2,477 | Sullivan MO | 6,942 | $63K | 11.4% | 5.9% | 26% | C |
| 2,478 | West Samoset FL | 7,429 | $54K | 16.4% | 6.6% | 2% | C |
| 2,479 | Richmond MO | 5,968 | $60K | 16.3% | 3.6% | 23% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,167 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Sullivan, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
Sullivan and its neighbors
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sullivan workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sullivan | – | C | A− | 22 min | $63,370 |
| Oak Grove Village | under 2% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| West Sullivan | under 2% | — | — | 29 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Oak Grove Village and West Sullivan: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sullivan’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 Sullivan: questions
What is the median household income in Sullivan?
$63,370 (±$8,371) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sullivan?
11.4%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sullivan?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sullivan work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Union (4%, 18 mi), St. Louis (4%, 58 mi), Washington (3%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sullivan walkable?
Sullivan is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sullivan without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sullivan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sullivan
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.