Household incomes in Rocky Boy West trail those of 69% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 1% of workers, against 12% across Montana. Poverty touches 36.1% of residents (Montana 11.5%). Rocky Boy West grades D− for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Rocky Boy West stands out on work
The jobs in Rocky Boy West pay better than its residents’ jobs
70% of the jobs based in Rocky Boy West pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 52% of the jobs Rocky Boy West residents hold. 88% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Rocky Boy West. The jobs ↓
Few Rocky Boy West workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 13% across Montana. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Rocky Boy West are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 19 across Montana. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Montana worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 282 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Rocky Boy West
On income, poverty and job access, Rocky Boy West is better than 4% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Rocky Boy West’s grade up ($63,125, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (9.7%) is left out: Rocky Boy West’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, Rocky Boy West could be anywhere from D− to D.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Rocky Boy West
406 jobs are based in Rocky Boy West.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rocky Boy West, 2014 → 2024: 104 → 406. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Rocky Boy West’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Rocky Boy West: about 14 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rocky Boy West workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 276 commuters (the 1% 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.
Who leaves Rocky Boy West for work, and who comes in
On a workday 232 residents head out to work, 50 work right here, and 356 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Rocky Boy West on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.44 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
26% of working residents work in Big Sandy
Where Rocky Boy West clocks in
26% 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 Rocky Boy West works
About 19% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Rocky Boy West commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rocky Boy West is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.3% across Montana, on an EPA index of 4.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 279 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). 18.1% of Rocky Boy West households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Rocky Boy West’s commuters take a bus or train.
Rocky Boy West next to 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% | 2% | 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% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 719 | Churchill MT | 1,167 | $108K | 6.3% | 1.3% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,901 | Weber City VA | 1,221 | $48K | 20.3% | 0.7% | 4% | D− |
| 2,902 | Gold Hill Township IL | 1,345 | $50K | 18.8% | 3.9% | 8% | D− |
| 2,903 | Rocky Boy West MT | 1,007 | $63K | 36.1% | 9.7% | 18% | D− |
| 2,904 | Oberlin LA | 1,286 | $32K | 22.1% | 3.1% | 9% | D− |
| 2,905 | Reading MI | 1,084 | $49K | 24.6% | 6.1% | 3% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Rocky Boy West, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
Rocky Boy West and its neighbors
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rocky Boy West workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocky Boy West | – | D− | B− | 14 min | $63,125 |
| Box Elder | under 2% | — | — | 10 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Box Elder: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Rocky Boy West’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 2024, 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 Rocky Boy West: questions
What is the median household income in Rocky Boy West?
$63,125 (±$22,268) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rocky Boy West?
36.1%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rocky Boy West?
14 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rocky Boy West work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Big Sandy (26%, 10 mi), Rocky Boy's Agency (13%, 10 mi), Great Falls (5%, 82 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Rocky Boy West walkable?
Rocky Boy West is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 4.2 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rocky Boy West without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rocky Boy West, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rocky Boy West
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.