Marion has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
There are 122 jobs in Marion, and 437 of its residents work somewhere. Marion grades C for jobs and income and D− for walkability. At home: 27% of workers have no commute at all (Montana 12%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Marion at work: what stands out
Marion workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 19 across Montana. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 92 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Marion is a place people come home to
There are 122 jobs based in Marion, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Marion has about 720 people in it, 30% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
29% of Marion works in Kalispell
125 working residents, 29%, have their main job in Kalispell, 19 miles away. That’s 4 times as many as work in Marion itself. The commute map ↓
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 437 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Marion’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Marion is better than 33% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Marion’s grade up (5.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 7% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (10.0%) is left out: Marion’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Marion could be anywhere from D to B+.
The trip to work from Marion: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Marion workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 352 commuters (the 27% 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.
A workday in Marion: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 403 residents head out to work, 34 work right here, and 88 people come in from elsewhere.
About 720 people are in Marion on a workday afternoon, 30% fewer 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.
29% of working residents work in Kalispell
Where Marion clocks in
7% 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 Marion’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Marion, 2013 → 2023: 53 → 122. 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 Marion’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Marion’s workers travel
About 20% 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.
Most of Marion commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Marion is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Marion 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 484 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). 3.6% of Marion households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Marion’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,607th of 3,133: where Marion ranks among U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 301 | Wye MT | 1,055 | $110K | 2.7% | 1.3% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 361 | Clinton MT | 1,040 | $104K | 3.8% | 4.1% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 719 | Churchill MT | 1,167 | $108K | 6.3% | 1.3% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,605 | Nevis Township MN | 1,179 | $70K | 6.7% | 2.3% | 3% | C |
| 1,606 | Columbia Township PA | 1,161 | $70K | 7.7% | 0.6% | 1% | C |
| 1,607 | Marion MT | 1,037 | $65K | 5.9% | 10.0% | 8% | C |
| 1,608 | Sundance WY | 1,141 | $61K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 32% | C |
| 1,609 | Boone Township IN | 1,378 | $62K | 7.9% | 4.3% | 8% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Marion, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
Next door to Marion
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Marion workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marion | – | C | D− | 31 min | $65,250 |
| Little Bitterroot Lake | under 1% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Little Bitterroot Lake: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Marion’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 Marion: questions
What is the median household income in Marion?
$65,250 (±$40,033) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Marion?
5.9%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Marion?
31 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 27% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Marion work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kalispell (29%, 18 mi), Evergreen (8%, 21 mi), Missoula (7%, 89 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Marion walkable?
Marion is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Marion without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Marion, from the people who make the trip.
More of Marion
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.