Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0About half of Fort Shaw’s working residents commute to Great Falls
The trip to work takes 30 minutes on average, where Montana has 19 and the U.S. 26. Only 1% work in Fort Shaw itself; outside it, Great Falls draws the most (49%, 24 miles). 35 jobs are based in Fort Shaw, and 71 of its residents work somewhere.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The workday shuffle in and out of Fort Shaw
On a workday 70 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 34 people come in from elsewhere.
About 170 people are in Fort Shaw on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
0.49 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.
Where Fort Shaw’s working residents head each day
Where Fort Shaw clocks in
49% of workers
6% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Fort Shaw
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Shaw, 2013 → 2023: 44 → 35. 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 Fort Shaw’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 30 minutes in Fort Shaw
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Shaw workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 89 commuters (the 13% 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.
Where in the region Fort Shaw works
About 21% 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 Fort Shaw: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Shaw?
$56,413 (±$35,211) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Shaw?
17.9%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Shaw?
30 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Shaw work?
1% work in town.
Can you get around Fort Shaw 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 Fort Shaw, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Shaw
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.