Photo: Sara goth · CC BY-SA 3.0Billings draws more than half of Lockwood’s working residents
A typical one-way commute lasts 21 minutes, where Montana has 19 and the U.S. 26. The two grades for Lockwood are B− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Lockwood has 3,158 jobs, against 3,562 working residents.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Lockwood and work: the main findings
More than half of Lockwood works in Billings
2,137 working residents, 60%, have their main job in Billings, 8 miles away across the town line. That’s 5 times as many as work in Lockwood itself. The commute map ↓
Lockwood trades workers with the towns around it
Lockwood has about as many jobs (3,158) as working residents (3,562), but they are mostly different people: 3,137 residents leave for work each day while 2,733 people come in. Only 13% of the jobs in Lockwood are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Most Lockwood residents work close to home
72% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Lockwood’s working residents have a job less than 7 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 21 minutes, longer than the Montana average of 19. Time on the road ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
44% of the jobs in Lockwood are in trade, transport and utilities, against 26% of the jobs its residents hold. 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.
Jobs & income in Lockwood: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lockwood is better than 48% of U.S. towns, #19 of 42 in Montana. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Lockwood’s grade. It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lockwood could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Where people from Lockwood work
Where Lockwood clocks in
60% of workers
2% of workers
1% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Lockwood
On a workday 3,137 residents head out to work, 425 work right here, and 2,733 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 (0.89 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.
How far it is to work from Lockwood
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.
The daily trip from Lockwood: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lockwood workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,249 commuters (the 8% 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.
Goods jobs make up 30% of work in Lockwood
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lockwood, 2013 → 2023: 2,890 → 3,158. 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 Lockwood’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Lockwood is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lockwood is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns, #38 of 42 in Montana. Both inputs place Lockwood 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 3,519 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.6% of Lockwood households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Lockwood’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lockwood is 1,898th of 3,205 U.S. towns of 5,000 to 9,700 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 756 | Four Corners MT | 5,791 | $101K | 6.3% | 0.5% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,257 | Helena Valley Northwest MT | 5,183 | $101K | 2.6% | 4.5% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,398 | Bigfork MT | 5,565 | $85K | 5.7% | 1.8% | 31% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,896 | Steger IL | 9,352 | $67K | 12.6% | 5.5% | 4% | B− |
| 1,897 | Crandall TX | 7,730 | $89K | 19.9% | 6.3% | 2% | B− |
| 1,898 | Lockwood MT | 7,181 | $76K | 10.7% | 4.4% | 12% | B− |
| 1,899 | Plymouth WI | 8,821 | $68K | 9.8% | 4.5% | 23% | B− |
| 1,900 | Robinson Township IL | 9,399 | $78K | 7.9% | 3.9% | 47% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,205 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Lockwood, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
Work next door: 60% of Lockwood’s workers
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Billings. Darker towns draw more of Lockwood’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 Lockwood: questions
What is the median household income in Lockwood?
$75,700 (±$6,298) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lockwood?
10.7%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lockwood?
21 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lockwood work?
12% work in town.
Is Lockwood walkable?
Lockwood is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lockwood without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lockwood, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lockwood
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.