Judith River Ranger Station · Photo: USFS · Public domainSapphire Ridge has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
0% of workers have no commute at all, next to 12% for Montana as a whole. Employers in Sapphire Ridge report 3 jobs, against 8 working residents. Hardly any work in Sapphire Ridge itself; outside it, Stanford draws the most (25%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sapphire Ridge quiets down on a workday
On a workday 8 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 3 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6 people are in Sapphire Ridge on a workday afternoon, 45% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Sapphire Ridge goes to work
Where Sapphire Ridge clocks in
25% of workers
13% of workers
13% 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 Sapphire Ridge’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sapphire Ridge, 2014 → 2024: 9 → 3. 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 Sapphire Ridge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Sapphire Ridge
of Sapphire Ridge workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3 commuters (the 0% 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 Sapphire Ridge commutes less than 19 miles
About 25% 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.
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 Sapphire Ridge: questions
What is the poverty rate in Sapphire Ridge?
54.5%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Sapphire Ridge work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Stanford (25%, 18 mi), Helena (13%, 86 mi), Missoula (13%, 178 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Sapphire Ridge 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 Sapphire Ridge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sapphire Ridge
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.