Photo: Coemgenus at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Hardin have lower incomes than those in 73% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 1% of workers; Montana has 12%. Below the poverty line: 7.2% of residents, next to 11.5% across Montana. Jobs and income earn Hardin C−; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Hardin stands out on work
Hardin’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Hardin is Billings, 46 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (194) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Hardin workers work from home
Only 1% 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.
The figures behind Hardin’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hardin is better than 25% of U.S. towns, #33 of 42 in Montana. The poverty rate holds Hardin’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hardin could be anywhere from D to B.
The commute from Hardin, by distance
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.
Time on the road from Hardin: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hardin workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,735 commuters (the 1% 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 a workday changes Hardin
On a workday 803 residents head out to work, 693 work right here, and 1,017 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 (1.14 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.
13% of working residents work in Billings
Where Hardin clocks in
13% of workers
2% 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 the 1,710 jobs in Hardin are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hardin, 2013 → 2023: 1,682 → 1,710. 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 Hardin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Hardin is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hardin is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #13 of 42 in Montana. Both inputs place Hardin 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 1,754 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). 7.8% of Hardin households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Hardin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,000, Hardin ranks 3,316th of 4,318 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 749 | Helena Valley Northeast MT | 4,659 | $141K | 5.2% | 1.3% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 885 | Lolo MT | 4,314 | $86K | 5.3% | 0.8% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,143 | Montana City MT | 3,092 | $130K | 1.8% | 3.9% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,314 | Fulton IL | 3,540 | $46K | 14.8% | 4.8% | 17% | C− |
| 3,315 | Concordia KS | 4,991 | $51K | 12.2% | 3.2% | 43% | C− |
| 3,316 | Hardin MT | 3,696 | $60K | 7.2% | 5.6% | 46% | C− |
| 3,317 | Bristow OK | 4,381 | $39K | 29.1% | 3.1% | 20% | C− |
| 3,318 | Mount Pocono PA | 3,047 | $79K | 18.1% | 9.7% | 7% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,318 | 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 Hardin, 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 Hardin: questions
What is the median household income in Hardin?
$60,423 (±$3,613) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hardin?
7.2%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hardin?
18 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hardin work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Billings (13%, 46 mi), Crow Agency (13%, 12 mi), Lockwood (2%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hardin walkable?
Hardin is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.2 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hardin without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hardin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hardin
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.