Great Falls draws about two in three of Sun Prairie’s working residents
Hardly any work in Sun Prairie itself; outside it, Great Falls draws the most (63%, 9 miles). For jobs and income Sun Prairie is better than 25% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns (D−). Measured by household income, Sun Prairie is behind 80% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sun Prairie and work: the main findings
More than half of Sun Prairie works in Great Falls
414 working residents, 63%, have their main job in Great Falls, 9.1 miles away. That’s 63 times as many as work in Sun Prairie itself. The commute map ↓
Sun Prairie is a place people come home to
There are 81 jobs based in Sun Prairie, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Sun Prairie has about 600 people in it, 49% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 653 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Sun Prairie’s grade
The poverty rate holds Sun Prairie’s grade up (9.9%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($55,688, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Sun Prairie’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Sun Prairie could be anywhere from D to B.
Where people from Sun Prairie work
Where Sun Prairie clocks in
63% of workers
3% 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.
Sun Prairie by day and by night
On a workday 649 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 77 people come in from elsewhere.
About 600 people are in Sun Prairie on a workday afternoon, 49% fewer than live here.
0.12 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Inside Sun Prairie’s 81 jobs
81 jobs are based in Sun Prairie.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sun Prairie, 2013 → 2023: 100 → 81. 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 Sun Prairie’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Sun Prairie spends getting to work: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sun Prairie workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 536 commuters (the 11% 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 many miles Sun Prairie commutes
About 24% 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.
In Sun Prairie, most people drive to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 605 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). 0.0% of Sun Prairie households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sun Prairie’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600, Sun Prairie ranks 2,697th of 4,312 on jobs and income
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 454 | Wye MT | 1,055 | $110K | 2.7% | 1.3% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 537 | Clinton MT | 1,040 | $104K | 3.8% | 4.1% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,034 | Churchill MT | 1,167 | $108K | 6.3% | 1.3% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Bayard NE | 1,087 | $68K | 9.9% | 2.4% | 3% | C− |
| 2,696 | Urbancrest OH | 1,003 | $42K | 41.5% | 23.8% | 1% | C− |
| 2,697 | Sun Prairie MT | 1,171 | $56K | 9.9% | 0.0% | 1% | C− |
| 2,698 | South Point TX | 1,054 | $50K | 13.7% | 4.6% | 0% | C− |
| 2,699 | Rossville IL | 1,170 | $62K | 10.4% | 2.9% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Sun Prairie, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
Work in the towns next to Sun Prairie
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sun Prairie workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun Prairie | – | C− | D− | 20 min | $55,688 |
| Vaughn | under 1% | C− | B | 23 min | $56,250 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sun Prairie’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 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 Sun Prairie: questions
What is the median household income in Sun Prairie?
$55,688 (±$15,361) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sun Prairie?
9.9%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sun Prairie?
20 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sun Prairie work?
1% work in town.
Is Sun Prairie walkable?
Sun Prairie is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sun Prairie 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 Sun Prairie, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sun Prairie
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.