Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Wardell works elsewhere
Only 2% work in Wardell itself; outside it, Hayti draws the most (11%, 9 miles). Wardell has 40 jobs; 118 of its residents have a job. Home is the office for 5% of workers; Missouri has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who commutes out of Wardell, and who commutes in
On a workday 116 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 38 people come in from elsewhere.
About 210 people are in Wardell on a workday afternoon, 28% 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.
Commuting out of Wardell: the destinations
Where Wardell clocks in
11% of workers
10% of workers
8% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Wardell
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wardell, 2013 → 2023: 44 → 40. 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 Wardell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Wardell: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wardell workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 139 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.
Wardell’s commute, mile by mile
About 19% 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 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 Wardell: questions
What is the median household income in Wardell?
$40,250 (±$8,009) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wardell?
42.9%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wardell?
24 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wardell work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hayti (11%, 9 mi), Kennett (10%, 15 mi), Portageville (8%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Wardell without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wardell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wardell
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.