With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of West Kootenai works elsewhere
Working from home is the commute for 20% of workers; Montana has 12%. 62 jobs are based in West Kootenai; 128 of its residents have a job. Only 2% work in West Kootenai itself; outside it, Eureka draws the most (21%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How many people are in West Kootenai by day
On a workday 126 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 60 people come in from elsewhere.
About 430 people are in West Kootenai on a workday afternoon, 13% 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.
The places West Kootenai commutes to
Where West Kootenai clocks in
21% 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.
Goods jobs make up 73% of work in West Kootenai
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in West Kootenai, 2014 → 2024: 51 → 62. 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 West Kootenai’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from West Kootenai: about 31 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of West Kootenai workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 176 commuters (the 20% 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.
Miles to work from West Kootenai
About 39% 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 West Kootenai: questions
What is the median household income in West Kootenai?
$93,869 (±$21,525) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in West Kootenai?
0.0%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from West Kootenai?
31 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in West Kootenai work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Eureka (21%, 10 mi), Fortine (7%, 20 mi), Kalispell (6%, 66 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around West Kootenai without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 27% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from West Kootenai, from the people who make the trip.
More of West Kootenai
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.