Photo: Tomhallward · CC BY-SA 4.0Work means Lewistown for about half of Roy’s working residents
For 5% of workers, the job is at home, against 12% across Montana. Only 3% work in Roy; the top destination outside it is Lewistown (48%, 30 miles). The average commute takes 15 minutes each way, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The workday shuffle in and out of Roy
On a workday 30 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 57 people come in from elsewhere.
About 160 people are in Roy on a workday afternoon, 21% 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.
The towns that send workers to Roy
Where Roy clocks in
48% of workers
6% 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.
What Roy’s employers do
58 jobs are based in Roy.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Roy, 2013 → 2023: 11 → 58. 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 Roy’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 4.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Roy workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 53 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.
How far Roy goes to work
About 35% 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 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 Roy: questions
What is the median household income in Roy?
$51,875 (±$9,624) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Roy?
36.5%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Roy?
15 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Roy work?
3% work in town.
Can you get around Roy without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Roy, from the people who make the trip.
More of Roy
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.