Photo: Tracey Elizabeth · CC BY 2.0A job hub: Helena has 2.0 jobs per working resident, and 20,981 people come in to work
30,895 jobs are based in Helena for 15,726 working residents. The two grades for Helena are B for jobs and income and A for walkability. About two in three work in Helena itself; outside it, Helena West Side draws the most (4%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Helena apart on work
Helena is where the jobs are
Helena has 30,895 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 50,000 people are in town, 43% more than the 35,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Helena are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 19 across Montana. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Montana worker, and quicker than any town next door (17 to 25 minutes). 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Helena
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Helena is better than 60% of U.S. towns, #12 of 42 in Montana. Unemployment holds Helena’s grade up (2.9%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($71,036, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Helena could be anywhere from B− to B+.
Helena by day and by night
On a workday 5,812 residents head out to work and 9,914 work right here.
About 50,000 people are in Helena on a workday afternoon, 43% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The trip to work from Helena: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Helena workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 14,028 commuters (the 16% 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.
The daily trip into Helena
Where Helena clocks in
3% 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 Helena’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Helena, 2013 → 2023: 29,483 → 30,895. 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’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Helena
About 22% 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.
Helena is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Helena is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #5 of 42 in Montana. Both inputs place Helena 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 16,732 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). 8.6% of Helena households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Helena’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 25,000 to 47,000, Helena ranks 719th of 1,194 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 717 | Casselberry FL | 31,872 | $62K | 12.2% | 3.1% | 4% | B |
| 718 | La Presa CA | 34,962 | $93K | 9.9% | 8.0% | 3% | B |
| 719 | Helena MT | 35,138 | $71K | 8.8% | 2.9% | 63% | B |
| 720 | Montgomery Village MD | 34,110 | $95K | 13.1% | 6.3% | 2% | B |
| 721 | Auburn Hills MI | 25,925 | $84K | 11.1% | 6.0% | 16% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 813 | Kalispell MT | 31,851 | $63K | 10.0% | 2.6% | 46% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,036 | Butte-Silver Bow MT | 36,118 | $62K | 14.8% | 4.1% | 63% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,194 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Helena, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
The towns around Helena
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Helena workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helena | – | B | A | 14 min | $71,036 |
| Helena Valley West Central | 2% | B | C | 20 min | $90,082 |
| Helena West Side | 4% | B− | B+ | 25 min | $66,921 |
| Helena Valley Southeast | under 1% | C+ | C+ | 20 min | $74,075 |
| East Helena | 1% | C− | B+ | 17 min | $60,417 |
| Helena Valley Northeast | under 1% | A− | C− | 21 min | $140,517 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Helena West Side. Darker towns draw more of Helena’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 Helena: questions
What is the median household income in Helena?
$71,036 (±$3,116) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Helena?
8.8%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Helena?
14 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Helena work?
63% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Helena West Side (4%, 5 mi), Missoula (3%, 97 mi), Bozeman (3%, 78 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Helena walkable?
Helena is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.5 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Helena without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Helena, from the people who make the trip.
More of Helena
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.