Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Big Timber earn less than those in 63% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 10.4% of residents, next to 11.5% for Montana as a whole. For jobs and income Big Timber is better than 20% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (A). About one in three work in Big Timber; the top destination outside it is Billings (7%, 67 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Big Timber in brief
A big share show a job far from home
31% 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 ↓
Many jobs in Big Timber pay little
27% of the jobs based in Big Timber pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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 601 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Big Timber’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Big Timber’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.7%) is left out: Big Timber’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, Big Timber could be anywhere from D to B−.
Near or far: the trip to work from Big Timber
About 31% 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 the 766 jobs in Big Timber are
766 jobs are based in Big Timber.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Big Timber, 2013 → 2023: 840 → 766. 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 Big Timber’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Big Timber fills up on a workday
On a workday 393 residents head out to work, 208 work right here, and 558 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Big Timber on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.27 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.
The towns that employ Big Timber’s residents
Where Big Timber clocks in
7% of workers
4% 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.
About 19 minutes to work from Big Timber
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Big Timber workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 683 commuters (the 13% 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.
Big Timber is easy on foot, hard by bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.3% across Montana, on an EPA index of 8.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 781 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). 2.3% of Big Timber households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Big Timber’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Big Timber is 4,060th of 5,760 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 494 | King Arthur Park MT | 1,992 | $109K | 7.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 581 | Manhattan MT | 2,073 | $88K | 2.9% | 0.0% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,312 | Three Forks MT | 1,920 | $80K | 6.2% | 0.0% | 11% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,058 | Strongs Prairie WI | 1,224 | $66K | 10.6% | 4.7% | 2% | C− |
| 4,059 | Grandview IL | 1,389 | $49K | 26.5% | 9.9% | 1% | C− |
| 4,060 | Big Timber MT | 1,686 | $67K | 10.4% | 3.7% | 35% | C− |
| 4,061 | Rogue River OR | 2,293 | $55K | 12.6% | 10.2% | 8% | C− |
| 4,062 | Bellmont NY | 1,328 | $70K | 11.1% | 5.8% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | 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 Big Timber, 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 Big Timber: questions
What is the median household income in Big Timber?
$66,898 (±$12,591) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Big Timber?
10.4%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Big Timber?
19 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Big Timber work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Billings (7%, 67 mi), Bozeman (4%, 54 mi), Livingston (2%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Big Timber walkable?
Big Timber is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Big Timber without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Big Timber, from the people who make the trip.
More of Big Timber
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.