Photo: Paltron · CC BY-SA 4.0Thayer has lower household incomes than 97% of U.S. towns
34.3% of residents are in poverty (Missouri 12.6%). Thayer grades D− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 5% of workers have no commute at all, against 13% across Missouri.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Thayer, in brief
Thayer’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Thayer is West Plains, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 18% of working residents (129) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Thayer workers earn over $40,000 a year
34% of Thayer’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Thayer are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 24 across Missouri. That’s about 46 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 718 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Thayer: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Thayer is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Thayer’s grade.
Unemployment (4.8%) is left out: Thayer’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Thayer stays D−.
How far Thayer goes to work
About 28% 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.
What the 1,031 jobs in Thayer are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Thayer, 2013 → 2023: 1,293 → 1,031. 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 Thayer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Thayer: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Thayer workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 694 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 daily commute in and out of Thayer
On a workday 563 residents head out to work, 155 work right here, and 876 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Thayer on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.44 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.
18% of working residents work in West Plains
Where Thayer clocks in
18% of workers
5% 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.
Most trips from Thayer start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Thayer is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.4% 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 730 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 Thayer households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Thayer’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Thayer sits among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 59 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,840 | Evart MI | 1,789 | $34K | 35.1% | 4.8% | 32% | D− |
| 5,841 | Shelby MS | 1,788 | $26K | 55.6% | 13.4% | 2% | D− |
| 5,842 | Thayer MO | 1,898 | $37K | 34.3% | 4.8% | 22% | D− |
| 5,843 | Milan NM | 2,468 | $36K | 32.2% | 3.7% | 10% | D− |
| 5,844 | Lordsburg NM | 2,181 | $37K | 23.5% | 4.6% | 42% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | 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 Thayer, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
The towns around Thayer
The biggest share goes to Mammoth Spring (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Thayer workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thayer | – | D− | B+ | 18 min | $37,417 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Thayer’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 Thayer: questions
What is the median household income in Thayer?
$37,417 (±$5,193) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Thayer?
34.3%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Thayer?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Thayer work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are West Plains (18%, 24 mi), Springfield (5%, 107 mi), Alton (3%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Thayer walkable?
Thayer is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Thayer without a car?
2% 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 Thayer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Thayer
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.