Photo: Royalbroil · CC BY-SA 4.0Where Glendive earns its living
The average commute, 19 minutes each way, matches the Montana norm. Jobs and income earn Glendive C; getting around on foot earns it A−. Measured by household income, Glendive is behind 54% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Glendive apart on work
Few Glendive workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 13% across Montana. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% 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.
Where Glendive’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Glendive is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #31 of 42 in Montana. Unemployment holds Glendive’s grade up (4.3%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 10% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Glendive could be anywhere from D to B.
The daily trip from Glendive: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Glendive workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,053 commuters (the 4% 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.
How far it is to work from Glendive
About 31% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Glendive
On a workday 1,083 residents head out to work, 909 work right here, and 1,300 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 (1.11 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.
12% of working residents work in West Glendive
Where Glendive clocks in
4% 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.
What Glendive’s employers do
2,209 jobs are based in Glendive.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Glendive, 2013 → 2023: 2,469 → 2,209. 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 Glendive’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Glendive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Glendive is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #20 of 42 in Montana. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.3% across Montana, on an EPA index of 8.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,130 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). 6.7% of Glendive households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Glendive’s commuters take a bus or train.
Glendive next to U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,400: 2,895th of 3,867 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 742 | Helena Valley Northeast MT | 4,659 | $141K | 5.2% | 1.3% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 757 | Four Corners MT | 5,791 | $101K | 6.3% | 0.5% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 865 | Lolo MT | 4,314 | $86K | 5.3% | 0.8% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,893 | Collins NY | 4,501 | $61K | 9.1% | 6.2% | 9% | C |
| 2,894 | Jenks Township PA | 3,662 | $52K | 4.6% | 2.3% | 12% | C |
| 2,895 | Glendive MT | 4,736 | $73K | 13.5% | 4.3% | 46% | C |
| 2,896 | Lakehills TX | 6,130 | $90K | 12.4% | 8.8% | 2% | C |
| 2,897 | Harlan IA | 4,859 | $57K | 9.1% | 4.8% | 45% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,867 | 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 Glendive, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
12% of Glendive works in a bordering town
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Glendive workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glendive | – | C | A− | 19 min | $72,670 |
| West Glendive | 12% | B | B− | 15 min | $54,922 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to West Glendive. Darker towns draw more of Glendive’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Glendive: questions
What is the median household income in Glendive?
$72,670 (±$8,669) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Glendive?
13.5%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Glendive?
19 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Glendive work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are West Glendive (12%, 2 mi), Billings (4%, 204 mi), Miles City (3%, 72 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Glendive walkable?
Glendive is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Glendive without a car?
<1% 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 Glendive, from the people who make the trip.
More of Glendive
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.