Photo: JDMcGreg · CC BY-SA 3.0Valley Park has lower household incomes than 61% of U.S. towns
9.8% of residents live below the poverty line, against 12.6% across Missouri. Jobs and income earn Valley Park B; getting around on foot earns it C−. For 21% of workers, the job is at home, where Missouri as a whole has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Valley Park apart
Valley Park trades workers with the towns around it
Valley Park has about as many jobs (3,234) as working residents (3,471), but they are mostly different people: 3,360 residents leave for work each day while 3,123 people come in. Only 3% of the jobs in Valley Park are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Home offices are common in Valley Park
21% of Valley Park workers work from home, against 13% across Missouri. 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.
How Valley Park earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Valley Park is better than 59% of U.S. towns, #87 of 247 in Missouri. Job access by car holds Valley Park’s grade up (ahead of 90% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($67,898, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Valley Park could be anywhere from C to A.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 3,360 residents head out to work, 111 work right here, and 3,123 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.93 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.
The trip to work from Valley Park: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Valley Park workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,799 commuters (the 21% 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 Valley Park’s working residents head each day
Where Valley Park clocks in
13% of workers
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.
What the 3,234 jobs in Valley Park are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Valley Park, 2013 → 2023: 2,788 → 3,234. 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 Valley Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Valley Park commutes
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 Valley Park: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Valley Park is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns, #233 of 247 in Missouri. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 3,546 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 1% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 40% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.8% of Valley Park households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Valley Park’s commuters take a bus or train.
Valley Park is 1,581st of 3,253 U.S. towns of 4,700 to 9,100 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 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | Parkville MO | 9,093 | $171K | 2.0% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,579 | Mount Hood Villages OR | 4,703 | $92K | 5.5% | 2.8% | 9% | B |
| 1,580 | Carbondale CO | 6,762 | $108K | 10.6% | 2.4% | 17% | B |
| 1,581 | Valley Park MO | 6,767 | $68K | 9.8% | 4.7% | 3% | B |
| 1,582 | Cincinnati Township IL | 8,825 | $84K | 8.4% | 5.1% | 6% | B |
| 1,583 | Phelps NY | 6,559 | $80K | 10.2% | 3.1% | 12% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,253 | 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 Valley Park, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
Around Valley Park: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Valley Park workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valley Park | – | B | C− | 22 min | $67,898 |
| Manchester | under 3% | A− | B− | 21 min | $97,801 |
| Twin Oaks | under 3% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Twin Oaks: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Valley Park’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 Valley Park: questions
What is the median household income in Valley Park?
$67,898 (±$11,363) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Valley Park?
9.8%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Valley Park?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Valley Park work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Louis (13%, 15 mi), Chesterfield (7%, 9 mi), Maryland Heights (5%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Valley Park walkable?
Valley Park is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Valley Park without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Valley Park, from the people who make the trip.
More of Valley Park
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.