Photo: J.B. Chandler · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Baker top those of 62% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 12.5% of residents (Montana 11.5%). Baker grades C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About two in five work in Baker itself; outside it, Billings draws the most (3%, 209 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Baker
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Baker’s working residents have a job less than 1 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 25 minutes, longer than the Montana average of 19. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Baker than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Baker fell from 1,052 in 2013 to 673 in 2023, −36%. 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 579 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Baker’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Baker is better than 26% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Baker’s grade up ($84,750, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Baker’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Baker could be anywhere from D to B−.
Each way, about 25 minutes from Baker
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Baker workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 712 commuters (the 6% 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.
Jobs in Baker: what the 673 are
673 jobs are based in Baker.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Baker, 2013 → 2023: 1,052 → 673. 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 Baker’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 332 residents head out to work, 247 work right here, and 426 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.16 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.
Where Baker goes to work
Where Baker clocks in
3% of workers
2% of workers
2% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Baker
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.
Baker is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Baker is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.3% across Montana, on an EPA index of 7.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 754 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). 6.6% of Baker households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Baker’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Baker ranks: 3,871st of 6,085 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 527 | King Arthur Park MT | 1,992 | $109K | 7.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 621 | Manhattan MT | 2,073 | $88K | 2.9% | 0.0% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,401 | Three Forks MT | 1,920 | $80K | 6.2% | 0.0% | 11% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,869 | Jefferson Township OH | 1,839 | $60K | 13.1% | 2.9% | 4% | C |
| 3,870 | Mount Holly VT | 1,373 | $78K | 11.9% | 1.3% | 2% | C |
| 3,871 | Baker MT | 1,776 | $85K | 12.5% | 0.0% | 43% | C |
| 3,872 | Pelzer SC | 1,434 | $58K | 26.9% | 5.7% | <1% | C |
| 3,873 | Gordonsville VA | 1,587 | $62K | 14.1% | 1.5% | 5% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Baker, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
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 Baker: questions
What is the median household income in Baker?
$84,750 (±$23,050) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Baker?
12.5%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Baker?
25 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Baker work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Billings (3%, 209 mi), Plevna (2%, 12 mi), Ekalaka (2%, 36 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Baker walkable?
Baker is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Baker without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Baker, from the people who make the trip.
More of Baker
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.