Photo: Rowen Hansen · CC BY-SA 4.0West Line has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
West Line has 23 jobs, and 62 of its residents work somewhere. Hardly any work in West Line; the top destination outside it is Kansas City (16%, 34 miles). For 29% 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 daily flow of workers through West Line
On a workday 62 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 23 people come in from elsewhere.
About 85 people are in West Line on a workday afternoon, 31% 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.
Out of West Line to work: where people go
Where West Line clocks in
16% of workers
5% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in West Line
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in West Line, 2013 → 2023: 1 → 23. 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 West Line’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From West Line, about 44 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 13.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of West Line workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 24 commuters (the 29% 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.
How far West Line goes to work
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.
- Two counts of out-of-state work. The Census survey asks workers where they work: 21% of West Line workers work outside Missouri. The job records count 34% at employers in other states. The records use the address the employer reports and skip the self-employed, so the two can differ.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in West Line: questions
What is the median household income in West Line?
$68,750 (±$22,322) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in West Line?
1.7%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from West Line?
44 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 29% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in West Line work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kansas City (16%, 34 mi), Overland Park (13%, 18 mi), Lenexa (5%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around West Line without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from West Line, from the people who make the trip.
More of West Line
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.