Photo: WikiCapa (Uploads) · Public domainHousehold incomes in Butte-Silver Bow are lower than in 71% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 0.0 in Billings. Below the poverty line: 14.8% of residents, next to 11.5% for Montana as a whole. Jobs and income earn Butte-Silver Bow C; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Butte-Silver Bow
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Butte-Silver Bow
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Butte-Silver Bow is better than 29% of U.S. towns, #30 of 42 in Montana. Unemployment holds Butte-Silver Bow’s grade up (4.1%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Butte-Silver Bow could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Butte-Silver Bow on a workday afternoon
On a workday 5,980 residents head out to work, 10,164 work right here, and 5,740 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 (0.99 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.
5% of working residents work in Missoula
Where Butte-Silver Bow clocks in
5% of workers
5% 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.
What Butte-Silver Bow’s employers do
15,904 jobs are based in Butte-Silver Bow.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Butte-Silver Bow, 2013 → 2023: 15,440 → 15,904. 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 Butte-Silver Bow’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Butte-Silver Bow: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Butte-Silver Bow workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 15,479 commuters (the 8% 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 many miles Butte-Silver Bow commutes
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Butte-Silver Bow
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Butte-Silver Bow is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #17 of 42 in Montana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.5% 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 16,756 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 83% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 44% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 72% 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). 6.5% of Butte-Silver Bow households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Butte-Silver Bow’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Butte-Silver Bow is 1,075th among 1,239 U.S. towns of 25,000 to 49,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 743 | Helena MT | 35,138 | $71K | 8.8% | 2.9% | 63% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 840 | Kalispell MT | 31,851 | $63K | 10.0% | 2.6% | 46% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,073 | Quincy IL | 38,918 | $56K | 16.7% | 4.7% | 53% | C |
| 1,074 | Dodge City KS | 27,653 | $69K | 14.6% | 5.6% | 51% | C |
| 1,075 | Butte-Silver Bow MT | 36,118 | $62K | 14.8% | 4.1% | 63% | C |
| 1,076 | Fernley NV | 26,214 | $90K | 12.8% | 5.5% | 20% | C |
| 1,077 | Asheboro NC | 27,990 | $47K | 19.7% | 4.0% | 29% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,239 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Butte-Silver Bow, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
Work in the towns next to Butte-Silver Bow
The biggest share goes to Anaconda-Deer Lodge County (3%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Butte-Silver Bow workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butte-Silver Bow | – | C | A | 17 min | $61,754 |
| Anaconda-Deer Lodge County | 3% | C− | B+ | 19 min | $57,527 |
| Dewey | under 1% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Wise River | under 1% | — | — | 28 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Dewey and Wise River: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Butte-Silver Bow’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Butte-Silver Bow: questions
What is the median household income in Butte-Silver Bow?
$61,754 (±$3,962) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Butte-Silver Bow?
14.8%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Butte-Silver Bow?
17 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Butte-Silver Bow work?
63% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Missoula (5%, 94 mi), Helena (5%, 57 mi), Bozeman (4%, 79 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Butte-Silver Bow walkable?
Butte-Silver Bow is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Butte-Silver Bow without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 44% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Butte-Silver Bow, from the people who make the trip.
More of Butte-Silver Bow
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.