Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Willow Springs trail those of 95% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 20.5%; Missouri has 12.6%. For jobs and income Willow Springs is better than 6% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (B). About one in five stay in Willow Springs for work; outside it, West Plains is the main destination (17%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Willow Springs and work: the main findings
Willow Springs is where the jobs are
Willow Springs has 1,188 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
The biggest group of Willow Springs’ workers comes from West Plains
76 of the people who work in Willow Springs live in West Plains, 18 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 701 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Willow Springs’ grade explained
Unemployment holds Willow Springs’ grade up (6.0%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($41,406, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Willow Springs could be anywhere from D− to C+.
The daily flow of workers through Willow Springs
On a workday 563 residents head out to work, 138 work right here, and 1,050 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Willow Springs on a workday afternoon, 22% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Who travels to work in Willow Springs, and from where
Where Willow Springs clocks in
17% of workers
7% of workers
4% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Willow Springs
About 32% 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 Willow Springs’ employers do
1,188 jobs are based in Willow Springs.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Willow Springs, 2013 → 2023: 1,070 → 1,188. 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 Willow Springs’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Willow Springs’ commute takes about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Willow Springs workers work from home, vs 13% across Missouri. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 826 commuters (the 13% 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.
In Willow Springs, the car does most of the work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 949 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). 8.4% of Willow Springs households have no vehicle (Missouri 6.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Willow Springs’ commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,500 to 3,000, and where Willow Springs sits
| # | 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 11 | Warson Woods MO | 1,990 | $207K | 1.3% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Weatherby Lake MO | 2,139 | $153K | 3.4% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 53 | Lake Winnebago MO | 1,869 | $179K | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,153 | Caney KS | 1,704 | $39K | 17.4% | 6.9% | 30% | D |
| 5,154 | Seneca MO | 2,343 | $46K | 21.4% | 0.8% | 10% | D |
| 5,155 | Willow Springs MO | 2,211 | $41K | 20.5% | 6.0% | 20% | D |
| 5,156 | Westfield NY | 2,888 | $47K | 15.3% | 11.7% | 22% | D |
| 5,157 | Cooper TX | 2,049 | $44K | 23.4% | 2.7% | 13% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,641 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Willow Springs, the top three, the last and three more from Missouri.
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 Willow Springs: questions
What is the median household income in Willow Springs?
$41,406 (±$10,306) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $70,702 across Missouri and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Willow Springs?
20.5%, against 12.6% across Missouri and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Willow Springs?
18 minutes each way on average, against 24 across Missouri and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Willow Springs work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are West Plains (17%, 18 mi), Springfield (7%, 75 mi), Cabool (4%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Willow Springs walkable?
Willow Springs is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Willow Springs without a car?
2% 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 Willow Springs, from the people who make the trip.
More of Willow Springs
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.