Don E. Olsson House and Garage · Photo: Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Ronan trail those of 95% of U.S. towns
21.6% of residents live below the poverty line, against 11.5% across Montana. The two grades for Ronan are D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. About one in four work in Ronan itself; outside it, Polson draws the most (26%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Ronan
Where Ronan’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Ronan is better than 2% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Ronan’s grade.
Unemployment (4.9%) is left out: Ronan’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, Ronan could be anywhere from D− to D.
The daily commute in and out of Ronan
On a workday 551 residents head out to work, 213 work right here, and 1,252 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,900 people are in Ronan on a workday afternoon, 32% more than live here.
1.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Where Ronan’s workforce comes from
Where Ronan clocks in
26% of workers
3% 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.
The kinds of work in Ronan
1,465 jobs are based in Ronan.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ronan, 2013 → 2023: 1,653 → 1,465. 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 Ronan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 15 minutes each way, quicker than most of Montana
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ronan workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 669 commuters (the 6% 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.
Half of Ronan commutes less than 11 miles
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.
In Ronan, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ronan is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Ronan 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 710 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). 10.9% of Ronan households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ronan’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ronan and other U.S. towns of 1,500 to 3,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 571 | King Arthur Park MT | 1,992 | $109K | 7.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 670 | Manhattan MT | 2,073 | $88K | 2.9% | 0.0% | 9% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 929 | Big Sky MT | 2,445 | $139K | 4.7% | 1.4% | 68% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,415 | Denver Township MI | 2,088 | $42K | 21.0% | 3.3% | 3% | D− |
| 5,416 | Marion KY | 2,879 | $39K | 25.1% | 1.7% | 33% | D− |
| 5,417 | Ronan MT | 2,209 | $42K | 21.6% | 4.9% | 28% | D− |
| 5,418 | Grifton NC | 2,539 | $37K | 32.7% | 18.3% | 3% | D− |
| 5,419 | Spring Valley AZ | 1,673 | $43K | 18.0% | 1.6% | 2% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,641 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Ronan, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
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 Ronan: questions
What is the median household income in Ronan?
$42,298 (±$6,166) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ronan?
21.6%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ronan?
15 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ronan work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Polson (26%, 11 mi), Pablo (3%, 5 mi), Missoula (3%, 45 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ronan walkable?
Ronan is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ronan without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ronan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ronan
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.