Photo: J.B. Chandler · CC BY-SA 3.0Work, pay and getting to work in Scobey
Home is the office for 5% of workers, where Montana as a whole has 12%. About half stay in Scobey for work; outside it, Wolf Point is the main destination (2%, 49 miles). Commuters spend 11 minutes getting to work on average, 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 work figures that set Scobey apart
Fewer jobs are based in Scobey than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Scobey fell from 636 in 2013 to 385 in 2023, −39%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Scobey are quick
The average trip to work takes 11 minutes, against 19 across Montana. That’s about 61 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 301 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The kinds of work in Scobey
385 jobs are based in Scobey.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Scobey, 2013 → 2023: 636 → 385. 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 Scobey’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 11 minutes to work from Scobey
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Scobey workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 440 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.
Scobey by day and by night
On a workday 148 residents head out to work, 153 work right here, and 232 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 per resident).
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 Scobey goes to work
Where Scobey clocks in
2% of workers
2% of workers
1% 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 distance from Scobey to work
About 20% 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 Scobey: questions
What is the median household income in Scobey?
$52,250 (±$12,456) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Scobey?
6.3%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Scobey?
11 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Scobey work?
51% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Wolf Point (2%, 49 mi), Plentywood (2%, 39 mi), Glasgow (1%, 69 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Scobey without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Scobey, from the people who make the trip.
More of Scobey
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.