Earning a living in Ashland
Home is the office for 3% of workers, against 12% across Montana. About one in seven stay in Ashland for work; outside it, Lame Deer is the main destination (30%, 15 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 12 minutes, where Montana has 19 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Ashland at work: what stands out
Ashland and Lame Deer trade workers both ways
Lame Deer is the top workplace for Ashland residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Ashland come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
39% 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Ashland than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Ashland fell from 446 in 2013 to 310 in 2023, −30%. 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 ↓
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 218 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where the trip to work from Ashland ends
Where Ashland clocks in
30% of workers
7% 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.
How many miles Ashland commutes
About 39% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Ashland
310 jobs are based in Ashland.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ashland, 2013 → 2023: 446 → 310. 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 Ashland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Ashland, and who commutes in
On a workday 189 residents head out to work, 29 work right here, and 281 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Ashland on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.42 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.
About 12 minutes each way for Ashland’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ashland workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 470 commuters (the 3% who work from home are left out). Across Montana: 81% 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.
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 Ashland: questions
What is the median household income in Ashland?
$45,607 (±$9,355) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ashland?
29.7%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ashland?
12 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ashland work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lame Deer (30%, 15 mi), Forsyth (7%, 50 mi), Billings (7%, 110 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Ashland without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ashland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ashland
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.