Photo: 5of7 · CC BY-SA 2.0Household incomes in Conrad trail those of 90% of U.S. towns
17.6% of residents are in poverty; Montana has 11.5%. Jobs and income earn Conrad D; getting around on foot earns it A. About two in five work in Conrad itself; outside it, Great Falls draws the most (9%, 55 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Conrad
Conrad’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Conrad is Great Falls, 55 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (79) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% 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 ↓
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 900 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Conrad: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Conrad is better than 11% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Conrad’s grade up (4.3%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Conrad could be anywhere from D− to C.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Conrad
About 35% 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.
Conrad by day and by night
On a workday 522 residents head out to work, 378 work right here, and 562 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 (1.04 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.
Commuting out of Conrad: the destinations
Where Conrad clocks in
9% of workers
5% of workers
5% 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 940 jobs based in Conrad
940 jobs are based in Conrad.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Conrad, 2013 → 2023: 1,123 → 940. 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 Conrad’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 15 minutes each way, quicker than most of Montana
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Conrad workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,125 commuters (the 7% 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.
In Conrad, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Conrad is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.3% across Montana, on an EPA index of 8.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,215 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). 7.4% of Conrad households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Conrad’s commuters take a bus or train.
Conrad next to U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,200: 4,273rd of 4,995 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 538 | King Arthur Park MT | 1,992 | $109K | 7.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 634 | Manhattan MT | 2,073 | $88K | 2.9% | 0.0% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 883 | Big Sky MT | 2,445 | $139K | 4.7% | 1.4% | 68% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,271 | Apalachicola FL | 2,473 | $52K | 15.7% | 5.0% | 30% | D |
| 4,272 | Christopher IL | 2,607 | $48K | 20.8% | 7.4% | 8% | D |
| 4,273 | Conrad MT | 2,393 | $48K | 17.6% | 4.3% | 42% | D |
| 4,274 | Elizabeth Township OH | 2,415 | $61K | 18.5% | 4.5% | 5% | D |
| 4,275 | Shippen Township PA | 1,805 | $62K | 14.5% | 7.6% | 14% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,995 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Conrad, 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 Conrad: questions
What is the median household income in Conrad?
$47,857 (±$3,999) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Conrad?
17.6%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Conrad?
15 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Conrad work?
42% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Great Falls (9%, 55 mi), Helena (5%, 109 mi), Shelby (5%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Conrad walkable?
Conrad is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Conrad without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Conrad, from the people who make the trip.
More of Conrad
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.