Photo: Tumbleweed1954 · CC BY-SA 4.0Earning a living in Bridger
Working residents average 21 minutes each way (Montana 19, U.S. 26). For 5% of workers, the job is at home (Montana 12%). About one in seven work in Bridger itself; outside it, Billings draws the most (31%, 38 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Bridger, in a few figures
Where Bridger goes to work
Where Bridger clocks in
31% of workers
4% 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.
A workday in Bridger: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 233 residents head out to work, 37 work right here, and 156 people come in from elsewhere.
About 630 people are in Bridger on a workday afternoon, 11% fewer than live here.
0.71 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
The 193 jobs based in Bridger
193 jobs are based in Bridger.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bridger, 2013 → 2023: 207 → 193. 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 Bridger’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 21 minutes from Bridger
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bridger workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 372 commuters (the 5% 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.
How far it is to work from Bridger
About 19% 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 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 Bridger: questions
What is the median household income in Bridger?
$42,891 (±$10,347) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bridger?
15.0%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bridger?
21 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bridger work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Billings (31%, 38 mi), Red Lodge (4%, 18 mi), Fromberg (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Bridger without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bridger, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bridger
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.