Maclay Bridge · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0For about two in three of its working residents, Orchard Homes is a commute to Missoula
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 3.4 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 0.0 in Billings. Jobs and income earn Orchard Homes B−; getting around on foot earns it A. The trip to work takes 16 minutes on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Orchard Homes and work: the main findings
More than half of Orchard Homes works in Missoula
1,546 working residents, 69%, have their main job in Missoula, 2.5 miles away across the town line. That’s 17 times as many as work in Orchard Homes itself. The commute map ↓
Most Orchard Homes residents work close to home
79% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Orchard Homes has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Orchard Homes went from 789 in 2013 to 1,210 in 2023, +53%. The jobs ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
41% of the jobs in Orchard Homes are in trade, transport and utilities, against 22% 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How Orchard Homes earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Orchard Homes is better than 47% of U.S. towns, #20 of 42 in Montana. Job access by car holds Orchard Homes’ grade up (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($64,904, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Orchard Homes could be anywhere from C− to A.
Where the trip to work from Orchard Homes ends
Where Orchard Homes clocks in
69% of workers
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.
How far it is to work from Orchard Homes
About 17% 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.
What Orchard Homes’ employers do
1,210 jobs are based in Orchard Homes.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Orchard Homes, 2013 → 2023: 789 → 1,210. 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 Orchard Homes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Orchard Homes by day and by night
On a workday 2,147 residents head out to work, 88 work right here, and 1,122 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,600 people are in Orchard Homes on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.54 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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 from Orchard Homes: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Orchard Homes workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,542 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.
Orchard Homes 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, Orchard Homes is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns, #3 of 42 in Montana. Both inputs place Orchard Homes 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 2,763 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 14% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 78% 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). 2.8% of Orchard Homes households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Orchard Homes’ commuters take a bus or train.
Orchard Homes places 2,020th of 3,502 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,500
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 724 | Helena Valley Northeast MT | 4,659 | $141K | 5.2% | 1.3% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 734 | Four Corners MT | 5,791 | $101K | 6.3% | 0.5% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 846 | Lolo MT | 4,314 | $86K | 5.3% | 0.8% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,018 | Westville IN | 5,387 | $61K | 11.4% | 3.7% | 4% | B− |
| 2,019 | Whitesboro TX | 4,188 | $70K | 16.5% | 2.2% | 13% | B− |
| 2,020 | Orchard Homes MT | 5,588 | $65K | 8.7% | 4.7% | 4% | B− |
| 2,021 | Crafton PA | 5,790 | $64K | 9.6% | 7.4% | 4% | B− |
| 2,022 | Oswegatchie NY | 3,976 | $85K | 13.8% | 2.1% | 13% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,502 | 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 Orchard Homes, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
The towns next door employ 69% of Orchard Homes
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Orchard Homes workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orchard Homes | – | B− | A | 16 min | $64,904 |
| Missoula | 69% | B− | A+ | 16 min | $70,392 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Missoula. Darker towns draw more of Orchard Homes’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 Orchard Homes: questions
What is the median household income in Orchard Homes?
$64,904 (±$27,059) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Orchard Homes?
8.7%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Orchard Homes?
16 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Orchard Homes work?
4% work in town.
Is Orchard Homes walkable?
Orchard Homes is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.5 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Orchard Homes without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 14% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Orchard Homes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Orchard Homes
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.