Photo: Derek Oyen · CC BY-SA 2.0Shell draws 36 commuters a day, with 1.9 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Shell report 37 jobs, against 19 working residents. Only 5% stay in Shell for work; outside it, Greybull is the main destination (21%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
A workday in Shell: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 18 residents head out to work and 1 work right here.
About 54 people are in Shell on a workday afternoon, 50% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting in to Shell: where workers come from
Where Shell 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.
In Shell, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shell, 2013 → 2023: 8 → 37. 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 Shell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Shell’s workers travel
About 21% 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 Shell: questions
What is the poverty rate in Shell?
0.0%, against 10.5% across Wyoming and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Shell work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greybull (21%, 14 mi), Basin (21%, 17 mi), Deaver (11%, 47 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shell
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.