Photo: U.S. Air Force photo · Public domainWith 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Malmstrom AFB works elsewhere
For 4% of workers, the job is at home, where Montana as a whole has 12%. 221 jobs are based in Malmstrom AFB for 557 working residents. Malmstrom AFB grades B− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Malmstrom AFB
Malmstrom AFB and Great Falls trade workers both ways
Great Falls is the top workplace for Malmstrom AFB residents (44%) and also where the most people who work in Malmstrom AFB come from (57% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
46% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Malmstrom AFB workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Malmstrom AFB’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 23% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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 557 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Malmstrom AFB’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Malmstrom AFB is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #16 of 42 in Montana. The poverty rate holds Malmstrom AFB’s grade up (5.8%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($64,833, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (1.8%) is left out: Malmstrom AFB’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Malmstrom AFB could be anywhere from C to B+.
44% of working residents work in Great Falls
Where Malmstrom AFB clocks in
44% of workers
7% of workers
5% 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.
Where in the region Malmstrom AFB works
About 46% 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.
Malmstrom AFB is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Malmstrom AFB, 2013 → 2023: 164 → 221. 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 Malmstrom AFB’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 534 residents head out to work, 23 work right here, and 198 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.
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 long Malmstrom AFB spends getting to work: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Malmstrom AFB workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,346 commuters (the 4% 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.
Driving is how Malmstrom AFB gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Malmstrom AFB is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns, #34 of 42 in Montana. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.3% across Montana, on an EPA index of 4.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,443 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). 1.0% of Malmstrom AFB households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Malmstrom AFB’s commuters take a bus or train.
Malmstrom AFB is 2,028th of 4,039 U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,800 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 743 | Helena Valley Northeast MT | 4,659 | $141K | 5.2% | 1.3% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 759 | Four Corners MT | 5,791 | $101K | 6.3% | 0.5% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 876 | Lolo MT | 4,314 | $86K | 5.3% | 0.8% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,026 | Wrightwood CA | 5,067 | $74K | 9.9% | 2.4% | 8% | B− |
| 2,027 | Haleiwa HI | 4,948 | $98K | 9.7% | 4.0% | 5% | B− |
| 2,028 | Malmstrom AFB MT | 4,302 | $65K | 5.8% | 1.8% | 4% | B− |
| 2,029 | Juno Beach FL | 3,935 | $84K | 8.3% | 9.7% | 8% | B− |
| 2,030 | Clyde Township MI | 5,422 | $84K | 6.5% | 5.0% | 2% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,039 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Malmstrom AFB, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
Next door is work for 44% of Malmstrom AFB
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Malmstrom AFB workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malmstrom AFB | – | B− | C+ | 14 min | $64,833 |
| Great Falls | 44% | C+ | A− | 15 min | $63,373 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Great Falls. Darker towns draw more of Malmstrom AFB’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 Malmstrom AFB: questions
What is the median household income in Malmstrom AFB?
$64,833 (±$12,851) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Malmstrom AFB?
5.8%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Malmstrom AFB?
14 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Malmstrom AFB work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Great Falls (44%, 6 mi), Billings (7%, 172 mi), Missoula (5%, 140 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Malmstrom AFB walkable?
Malmstrom AFB is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Malmstrom AFB without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Malmstrom AFB, from the people who make the trip.
More of Malmstrom AFB
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.