Photo: Finetooth · CC BY-SA 3.0West Yellowstone has 1.7 jobs for every working resident: 636 people commute in to work
Jobs & income D: better than 11% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability A+: more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 9 minutes each way (Montana 19, U.S. 26). More than half work in West Yellowstone; the top destination outside it is Big Sky (6%, 42 miles).
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.0 transit trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 0.0 in Billings (EPA, 2020 schedules).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in West Yellowstone, in brief
West Yellowstone is where the jobs are
West Yellowstone has 980 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from West Yellowstone are quick
The average trip to work takes 9 minutes, against 19 across Montana. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Montana worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of West Yellowstone workers earn over $40,000 a year
42% of West Yellowstone’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
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 591 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind West Yellowstone’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, West Yellowstone is better than 11% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds West Yellowstone’s grade up (13.1%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.3%) is left out: West Yellowstone’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, West Yellowstone could be anywhere from D− to B.
West Yellowstone fills up on a workday
On a workday 247 residents head out to work, 344 work right here, and 636 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in West Yellowstone on a workday afternoon, 33% more than live here.
1.7 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.
About 9 minutes each way, quicker than most of Montana
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 2.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of West Yellowstone workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 890 commuters (the 1% who work from home are left out). Across Montana: 81% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
What the 980 jobs in West Yellowstone are
980 jobs are based in West Yellowstone. Here is what they are, next to the jobs West Yellowstone’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in West Yellowstone, 2013 → 2023: 892 → 980. 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.
Where West Yellowstone’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where West Yellowstone clocks in
6% of workers
4% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Half of West Yellowstone commutes less than 1 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 26% 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.
West Yellowstone is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, West Yellowstone is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place West Yellowstone near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 897 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.5% of West Yellowstone households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of West Yellowstone’s commuters take a bus or train.
West Yellowstone is 3,495th of 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of West Yellowstone, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
| # | 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 |
| … | |||||||
| 3,493 | Iron River Township MI | 1,052 | $56K | 12.1% | 6.7% | 4% | D |
| 3,494 | Leyden NY | 1,585 | $59K | 13.9% | 13.3% | 3% | D |
| 3,495 | West Yellowstone MT | 1,191 | $59K | 13.1% | 2.3% | 58% | D |
| 3,496 | Ardmore TN | 1,244 | $47K | 21.6% | 6.2% | 6% | D |
| 3,497 | East Oakland Township IL | 1,205 | $52K | 14.6% | 7.5% | 2% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 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.
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 West Yellowstone: questions
What is the median household income in West Yellowstone?
$58,839 (±$35,907) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in West Yellowstone?
13.1%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from West Yellowstone?
9 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in West Yellowstone work?
58% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Big Sky (6%, 42 mi), Bozeman (4%, 70 mi), Billings (3%, 147 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is West Yellowstone walkable?
West Yellowstone is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 11.3 out of 20, and 20% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around West Yellowstone without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from West Yellowstone, from the people who make the trip.
More of West Yellowstone
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.