Jackson draws 37 commuters a day, with 3.1 jobs for every working resident
Working from home is the commute for 56% of workers (Montana 12%). Employers in Jackson report 37 jobs; 12 of its residents have a job. Hardly any work in Jackson itself; outside it, Butte-Silver Bow draws the most (17%, 51 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
In and out of Jackson on a workday
On a workday 12 residents head out to work and none work right here.
About 86 people are in Jackson on a workday afternoon, 41% 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.
Who travels to work in Jackson, and from where
Where Jackson clocks in
17% of workers
8% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Jackson
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jackson, 2013 → 2023: 4 → 37. 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 Jackson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Jackson: about 13 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jackson workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12 commuters (the 56% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Jackson
About 75% 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.
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.
- Two counts of out-of-state work. The Census survey asks workers where they work: 4% of Jackson workers work outside Montana. The job records count 16% at employers in other states. The records use the address the employer reports and skip the self-employed, so the two can differ.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Jackson: questions
What is the poverty rate in Jackson?
16.4%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jackson?
13 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 56% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jackson work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Butte-Silver Bow (17%, 51 mi), Fremont (8%, 700 mi), Cut Bank (8%, 231 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Jackson 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 Jackson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jackson
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.