Dillon City Library · Photo: Robstutz · CC BY-SA 3.0Dillon has lower unemployment (1.2%) than 93% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Dillon C+; getting around on foot earns it A. 3% of workers work from home, next to 12% for Montana as a whole. About two in five work in Dillon itself; outside it, Butte-Silver Bow draws the most (6%, 47 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Dillon in brief
A big share show a job far from home
36% 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 ↓
Few Dillon workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 13% across Montana. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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.
What’s behind Dillon’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dillon is better than 40% of U.S. towns, #26 of 42 in Montana. Unemployment holds Dillon’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dillon could be anywhere from C− to B.
How far it is to work from Dillon
About 36% 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.
A commute of about 17 minutes in Dillon
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dillon workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,993 commuters (the 3% 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.
Who commutes out of Dillon, and who commutes in
On a workday 987 residents head out to work, 797 work right here, and 1,426 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,700 people are in Dillon on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.25 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 Dillon’s residents
Where Dillon clocks in
6% 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.
Inside Dillon’s 2,223 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dillon, 2013 → 2023: 1,924 → 2,223. 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 Dillon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Dillon is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dillon is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns, #18 of 42 in Montana. Both inputs place Dillon near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,056 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). 1.1% of Dillon households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Dillon’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Dillon ranks: 2,542nd of 4,039 U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 743 | Helena Valley Northeast MT | 4,659 | $141K | 5.2% | 1.3% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 759 | Four Corners MT | 5,791 | $101K | 6.3% | 0.5% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 876 | Lolo MT | 4,314 | $86K | 5.3% | 0.8% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,540 | Belfair WA | 4,557 | $88K | 6.4% | 7.4% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,541 | Imlay City MI | 3,753 | $60K | 23.5% | 2.1% | 20% | C+ |
| 2,542 | Dillon MT | 4,271 | $61K | 11.5% | 1.2% | 45% | C+ |
| 2,543 | Orleans Township IN | 3,571 | $67K | 12.0% | 2.7% | 16% | C+ |
| 2,544 | Millington Township MI | 4,171 | $66K | 6.6% | 5.5% | 8% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,039 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Dillon, 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 Dillon: questions
What is the median household income in Dillon?
$61,134 (±$7,890) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dillon?
11.5%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dillon?
17 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dillon work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Butte-Silver Bow (6%, 47 mi), Bozeman (4%, 83 mi), Helena (4%, 100 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dillon walkable?
Dillon is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dillon without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dillon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dillon
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.