Photo: Travellers & Tinkers · CC BY-SA 4.0Circle draws 268 commuters a day, with 1.9 jobs for every working resident
For 6% of workers, the job is at home, against 12% across Montana. Circle has 326 jobs, and 171 of its residents work somewhere. About one in three work in Circle; the top destination outside it is Billings (7%, 180 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
A workday in Circle: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 113 residents head out to work and 58 work right here.
About 750 people are in Circle on a workday afternoon, 26% more 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.
Where Circle’s workers come from
Where Circle clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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.
The kinds of work in Circle
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Circle, 2013 → 2023: 347 → 326. 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 Circle’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 15 minutes each way for Circle’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Circle workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 267 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.
The commute from Circle, by distance
About 41% 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 Circle: questions
What is the median household income in Circle?
$75,417 (±$23,178) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Circle?
6.3%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Circle?
15 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Circle work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Billings (7%, 180 mi), Wolf Point (6%, 47 mi), Miles City (2%, 71 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Circle without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Circle, from the people who make the trip.
More of Circle
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.