Photo: Djembayz · CC BY-SA 3.0Missoula draws more than half of Frenchtown’s working residents
Only 5% work in Frenchtown itself; outside it, Missoula draws the most (52%, 15 miles). The two grades for Frenchtown are B− for jobs and income and C for walkability. 0% of workers have no commute at all, against 12% across Montana.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Frenchtown and work: the main findings
More than half of Frenchtown works in Missoula
452 working residents, 52%, have their main job in Missoula, 15 miles away. That’s 10 times as many as work in Frenchtown itself. The commute map ↓
Few Frenchtown workers work from home
Only 0% 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; with 872 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Frenchtown’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Frenchtown is better than 50% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Frenchtown’s grade up ($94,500, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 28% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Frenchtown’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Frenchtown could be anywhere from C to A−.
Where people from Frenchtown work
Where Frenchtown clocks in
52% of workers
3% 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 daily trip from Frenchtown: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Frenchtown workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 673 commuters (the 0% 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.
A workday in Frenchtown: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 828 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 531 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Frenchtown on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.66 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.
What Frenchtown’s employers do
575 jobs are based in Frenchtown.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Frenchtown, 2013 → 2023: 457 → 575. 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 Frenchtown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Frenchtown works
About 18% 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.
Getting around Frenchtown: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Frenchtown is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.3% across Montana, on an EPA index of 5.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 673 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 1.5% of Frenchtown households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Frenchtown’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600, Frenchtown ranks 2,316th of 5,921 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 545 | King Arthur Park MT | 1,992 | $109K | 7.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 642 | Manhattan MT | 2,073 | $88K | 2.9% | 0.0% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 888 | Big Sky MT | 2,445 | $139K | 4.7% | 1.4% | 68% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,314 | Unity Township IL | 1,395 | $81K | 6.7% | 10.7% | 2% | B− |
| 2,315 | Garrett Township IL | 1,328 | $70K | 5.0% | 0.6% | 4% | B− |
| 2,316 | Frenchtown MT | 1,927 | $95K | 9.9% | 0.0% | 5% | B− |
| 2,317 | Wade Township IL | 1,679 | $64K | 5.6% | 6.1% | 3% | B− |
| 2,318 | Highland Township IN | 1,511 | $90K | 8.4% | 4.7% | 3% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Frenchtown, 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 Frenchtown: questions
What is the median household income in Frenchtown?
$94,500 (±$11,122) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Frenchtown?
9.9%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Frenchtown?
20 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Frenchtown work?
5% work in town.
Is Frenchtown walkable?
Frenchtown is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Frenchtown without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Frenchtown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Frenchtown
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.