Charles Boles House · Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 4.0Kalispell has lower unemployment (2.6%) than 76% of U.S. towns
Commuters spend 15 minutes getting to work on average; the Montana average is 19, the U.S. 26. Jobs and income earn Kalispell B−; getting around on foot earns it A−. About half stay in Kalispell for work; outside it, Evergreen is the main destination (7%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Kalispell: the figures worth knowing
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Kalispell
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kalispell is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #14 of 42 in Montana. Unemployment holds Kalispell’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($63,415, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kalispell could be anywhere from C+ to B.
The daily commute in and out of Kalispell
On a workday 6,596 residents head out to work, 5,659 work right here, and 13,614 people come in from elsewhere.
About 39,000 people are in Kalispell on a workday afternoon, 22% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
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 daily trip into Kalispell
Where Kalispell clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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.
The 19,273 jobs based in Kalispell
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kalispell, 2013 → 2023: 15,297 → 19,273. 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 Kalispell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 15 minutes in Kalispell
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kalispell workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,250 commuters (the 13% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Kalispell
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.
Kalispell is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kalispell is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #26 of 42 in Montana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 6.3% across Montana.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,008 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). 7.7% of Kalispell households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Kalispell’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Kalispell is 908th among 1,368 U.S. towns of 22,000 to 43,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 806 | Helena MT | 35,138 | $71K | 8.8% | 2.9% | 63% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 906 | Springfield Township OH | 35,887 | $74K | 11.8% | 5.5% | 3% | B− |
| 907 | Republic MO | 22,404 | $66K | 17.7% | 1.9% | 11% | B− |
| 908 | Kalispell MT | 31,851 | $63K | 10.0% | 2.6% | 46% | B− |
| 909 | Suisun City CA | 29,454 | $95K | 8.4% | 8.4% | 3% | B− |
| 910 | Venice FL | 30,477 | $77K | 9.2% | 4.8% | 17% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,172 | Butte-Silver Bow MT | 36,118 | $62K | 14.8% | 4.1% | 63% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,368 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Kalispell, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
Around Kalispell: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Evergreen. Darker towns draw more of Kalispell’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 Kalispell: questions
What is the median household income in Kalispell?
$63,415 (±$4,333) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kalispell?
10.0%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kalispell?
15 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kalispell work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Evergreen (7%, 3 mi), Whitefish (5%, 15 mi), Missoula (4%, 94 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kalispell walkable?
Kalispell is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kalispell without a car?
<1% 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 Kalispell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kalispell
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.