Belgrade City Hall and Jail · Photo: Robstutz · CC BY-SA 4.0Belgrade has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
For jobs and income Belgrade is better than 62% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (B−). 3,542 jobs are based in Belgrade for 6,718 working residents. About one in seven work in Belgrade; the top destination outside it is Bozeman (38%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Belgrade apart on work
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Belgrade’s working residents have a job less than 9 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 25 minutes, longer than the Montana average of 19. Time on the road ↓
Belgrade and Bozeman trade workers both ways
Bozeman is the top workplace for Belgrade residents (38%) and also where the most people who work in Belgrade come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Belgrade residents work close to home
60% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Belgrade has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Belgrade went from 2,623 in 2013 to 3,542 in 2023, +35%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Belgrade gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Household income holds Belgrade’s grade up ($97,328, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.2%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Belgrade could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Belgrade’s commute takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Belgrade workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,148 commuters (the 11% 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.
Out of Belgrade to work: where people go
Where Belgrade clocks in
38% of workers
3% 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 Belgrade
About 15% 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 Belgrade’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Belgrade, 2013 → 2023: 2,623 → 3,542. 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 Belgrade’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Belgrade: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 5,887 residents head out to work, 831 work right here, and 2,711 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,900 people are in Belgrade on a workday afternoon, 24% 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.
Few in Belgrade walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 6.3% across Montana.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,889 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 43% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.2% of Belgrade households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Belgrade’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Belgrade ranks: 1,277th of 2,526 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,275 | Chubbuck ID | 16,823 | $83K | 6.0% | 4.3% | 14% | B |
| 1,276 | Altoona WI | 9,376 | $85K | 13.1% | 2.8% | 10% | B |
| 1,277 | Belgrade MT | 13,107 | $97K | 11.2% | 3.0% | 12% | B |
| 1,278 | Northbrook OH | 10,742 | $67K | 10.7% | 3.4% | 1% | B |
| 1,279 | Live Oak CA | 16,911 | $104K | 12.9% | 4.1% | 11% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,497 | Whitefish MT | 9,358 | $74K | 9.4% | 2.4% | 37% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,567 | Evergreen MT | 9,611 | $76K | 12.1% | 3.4% | 15% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,693 | Helena Valley Southeast MT | 9,108 | $74K | 8.3% | 4.9% | 3% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Belgrade, 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 Belgrade: questions
What is the median household income in Belgrade?
$97,328 (±$13,143) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Belgrade?
11.2%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Belgrade?
25 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Belgrade work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bozeman (38%, 9 mi), Four Corners (6%, 8 mi), Big Sky (3%, 37 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Belgrade walkable?
Belgrade is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Belgrade without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Belgrade, from the people who make the trip.
More of Belgrade
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.