Where Helena Flats earns its living
A typical one-way commute lasts 16 minutes, next to 19 for Montana and 26 for the U.S. Only 4% work in Helena Flats; the top destination outside it is Kalispell (31%, 6 miles). There are 413 jobs in Helena Flats, and 524 of its residents work somewhere.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Helena Flats in brief
Most Helena Flats residents work close to home
73% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about three in four. How far ↓
Helena Flats and Kalispell trade workers both ways
Kalispell is the top workplace for Helena Flats residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Helena Flats come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Helena Flats makes and builds things
61% of the jobs based in Helena Flats are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Helena Flats residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. The jobs ↓
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 524 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Short hops and long hauls from Helena Flats
About 16% 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.
Where the trip to work from Helena Flats ends
Where Helena Flats clocks in
6% 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.
Helena Flats works in goods: 61% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Helena Flats, 2013 → 2023: 366 → 413. 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 Helena Flats’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Helena Flats
On a workday 501 residents head out to work, 23 work right here, and 390 people come in from elsewhere.
About 750 people are in Helena Flats on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.79 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.
Helena Flats’ commute takes about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Helena Flats workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 471 commuters (the 12% 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.
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 Helena Flats: questions
What is the median household income in Helena Flats?
$93,625 (±$23,186) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Helena Flats?
2.3%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Helena Flats?
16 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Helena Flats work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kalispell (31%, 6 mi), Evergreen (9%, 4 mi), Whitefish (6%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Helena Flats 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 Helena Flats, from the people who make the trip.
More of Helena Flats
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.