Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Jobs, pay and the trip to work in Missoula
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 9.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 0.0 in Billings. Missoula grades B− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. About two in three work in Missoula itself; outside it, Helena draws the most (2%, 97 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Missoula: the figures worth knowing
Most jobs in Missoula go to people who live here
Of the 51,352 jobs based in Missoula, 49% are held by Missoula residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Missoula gains people on a workday
About 95,000 people are in Missoula on a workday afternoon, 21% more than the 79,000 who live here: 26,000 come in to work and 9,900 head out. Day and night ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Missoula
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Missoula is better than 50% of U.S. towns, #17 of 42 in Montana. Job access by car holds Missoula’s grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.8%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Missoula could be anywhere from C+ to B.
Missoula by day and by night
On a workday 9,871 residents head out to work, 25,003 work right here, and 26,349 people come in from elsewhere.
About 95,000 people are in Missoula on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.47 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.
Where Missoula goes to work
Where Missoula clocks in
2% of workers
2% 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.
Inside Missoula’s 51,352 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Missoula, 2013 → 2023: 43,537 → 51,352. 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 Missoula’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 16 minutes from Missoula
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Missoula workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 37,634 commuters (the 15% 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.
How many miles Missoula commutes
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.
Missoula is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Missoula is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns, #2 of 42 in Montana. Both inputs place Missoula 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 44,370 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 91% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 52% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 9.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 92% 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). 6.7% of Missoula households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Missoula’s commuters take a bus or train.
Missoula places 391st of 578 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 55,000 to 107,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 193 | Bozeman MT | 58,814 | $86K | 13.7% | 3.0% | 56% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 389 | Bremen Township IL | 104,303 | $79K | 12.6% | 7.6% | 9% | B− |
| 390 | Taunton MA | 62,522 | $79K | 13.0% | 5.8% | 16% | B− |
| 391 | Missoula MT | 78,903 | $70K | 11.8% | 3.8% | 72% | B− |
| 392 | Oshkosh WI | 67,460 | $62K | 17.5% | 2.8% | 42% | B− |
| 393 | South Gate CA | 90,071 | $75K | 12.7% | 7.4% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 455 | Great Falls MT | 60,208 | $63K | 14.5% | 3.7% | 69% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 578 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Missoula, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
Missoula and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Orchard Homes (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Missoula workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missoula | – | B− | A+ | 16 min | $70,392 |
| Orchard Homes | 1% | B− | A | 16 min | $64,904 |
| East Missoula | under 1% | C | A | 23 min | $57,500 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Missoula’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 Missoula: questions
What is the median household income in Missoula?
$70,392 (±$3,565) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Missoula?
11.8%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Missoula?
16 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Missoula work?
72% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Helena (2%, 97 mi), Billings (2%, 272 mi), Orchard Homes (1%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Missoula walkable?
Missoula is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.1 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Missoula without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 52% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Missoula, from the people who make the trip.
More of Missoula
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.