Photo: SamuelNelsonGISP · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.6 jobs for every working resident, most of Tarkio works elsewhere
Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, next to 13% for Missouri as a whole. 326 jobs are based in Tarkio; 568 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Tarkio D; getting around on foot earns it B+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Tarkio and work: the main findings
A big share show a job far from home
35% 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Tarkio than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Tarkio fell from 438 in 2013 to 326 in 2023, −26%. 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 Tarkio workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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 568 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Tarkio
On income, poverty and job access, Tarkio is better than 10% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Tarkio’s grade up (14.4%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 7% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.1%) is left out: Tarkio’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, Tarkio could be anywhere from D− to C.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Tarkio
About 35% 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.
Jobs in Tarkio: what the 326 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tarkio, 2013 → 2023: 438 → 326. 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 Tarkio’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Tarkio: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tarkio workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 725 commuters (the 4% 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.
Tarkio on a workday afternoon
On a workday 469 residents head out to work, 99 work right here, and 227 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Tarkio on a workday afternoon, 16% 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.
9% of working residents work in Rock Port
Where Tarkio clocks in
4% 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.
Most of Tarkio commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Tarkio is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Tarkio 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 754 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). 6.3% of Tarkio households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Tarkio’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Tarkio is 5,237th of 6,308 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | Loch Lloyd MO | 1,090 | $184K | 2.5% | 0.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,235 | Radium Springs NM | 1,908 | $44K | 15.4% | 8.7% | 4% | D |
| 5,236 | Winnsboro Mills SC | 1,535 | $35K | 38.8% | 9.8% | 2% | D |
| 5,237 | Tarkio MO | 1,478 | $57K | 14.4% | 4.1% | 17% | D |
| 5,238 | Morton WA | 1,102 | $58K | 13.7% | 15.9% | 17% | D |
| 5,239 | Crivitz WI | 1,137 | $55K | 14.7% | 1.4% | 24% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Tarkio, 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 Tarkio: questions
What is the median household income in Tarkio?
$56,927 (±$10,465) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tarkio?
14.4%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tarkio?
23 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tarkio work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rock Port (9%, 8 mi), Maryville (6%, 28 mi), Kansas City (4%, 101 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Tarkio walkable?
Tarkio is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tarkio without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tarkio, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tarkio
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.