Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Work and commuting in Van Buren
Commuters spend 18 minutes getting to work on average; the Missouri average is 24, the U.S. 26. 5% of workers work from home, next to 13% for Missouri as a whole. About one in five work in Van Buren itself; outside it, Poplar Bluff draws the most (10%, 37 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Van Buren
Van Buren’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Van Buren is Poplar Bluff, 37 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (28) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Van Buren than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Van Buren fell from 588 in 2013 to 362 in 2023, −38%. 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 ↓
Commutes from Van Buren 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 267 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Short hops and long hauls from Van Buren
About 26% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
362 jobs are based in Van Buren.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Van Buren, 2013 → 2023: 588 → 362. 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 Van Buren’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 18 minutes each way for Van Buren’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Van Buren workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 333 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.
Van Buren on a workday afternoon
On a workday 214 residents head out to work, 53 work right here, and 309 people come in from elsewhere.
About 890 people are in Van Buren on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.36 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 places Van Buren commutes to
Where Van Buren clocks in
2% of workers
1% 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 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 Van Buren: questions
What is the median household income in Van Buren?
$20,560 (±$10,191) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Van Buren?
44.4%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Van Buren?
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 Van Buren work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Poplar Bluff (10%, 37 mi), Doniphan (2%, 29 mi), Ellsinore (1%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Van Buren without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 37% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Van Buren, from the people who make the trip.
More of Van Buren
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.