Photo: Montanabw · CC BY-SA 3.0Polson has 2.0 jobs for every working resident: 3,048 people commute in to work
Household incomes here are lower than in 83% of U.S. towns. Employers in Polson report 3,865 jobs for 1,910 working residents. Polson grades D for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Polson
The figures behind Polson’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Polson is better than 7% of U.S. towns, #39 of 42 in Montana. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Polson’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Polson could be anywhere from D− to C.
How many people are in Polson by day
On a workday 1,093 residents head out to work and 817 work right here.
About 7,600 people are in Polson on a workday afternoon, 35% more 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.
Who travels to work in Polson, and from where
Where Polson clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Polson, 2013 → 2023: 3,444 → 3,865. 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 Polson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Polson: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Polson workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,085 commuters (the 5% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Polson
About 22% 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.
Polson 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, Polson is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #21 of 42 in Montana. Both inputs place Polson 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 2,192 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). 6.1% of Polson households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Polson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Polson sits among U.S. towns of 4,000 to 7,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 714 | Helena Valley Northeast MT | 4,659 | $141K | 5.2% | 1.3% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 724 | Four Corners MT | 5,791 | $101K | 6.3% | 0.5% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 835 | Lolo MT | 4,314 | $86K | 5.3% | 0.8% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,248 | Montura FL | 4,121 | $35K | 38.3% | 3.8% | 4% | D |
| 3,249 | West Frankfort IL | 7,105 | $48K | 29.0% | 15.2% | 14% | D |
| 3,250 | Polson MT | 5,653 | $53K | 17.5% | 7.9% | 43% | D |
| 3,251 | Wayne Township IN | 4,358 | $46K | 27.6% | 6.6% | 16% | D |
| 3,252 | Millinocket ME | 4,095 | $51K | 17.1% | 6.1% | 43% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,428 | 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 Polson, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
Work in the towns next to Polson
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Polson workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polson | – | D | A− | 20 min | $53,418 |
| Kerr | under 1% | — | — | 11 min | — |
| Jette | under 1% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Kerr and Jette: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Polson’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 Polson: questions
What is the median household income in Polson?
$53,418 (±$4,920) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Polson?
17.5%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Polson?
20 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Polson work?
43% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Missoula (7%, 56 mi), Ronan (6%, 11 mi), Kalispell (5%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Polson walkable?
Polson is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Polson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Polson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Polson
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.