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Work & commute in Fontana · A commuter town

100% of Fontana’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Fontana for work: only 0% work in town. The top destinations are Overland Park (13%), Lenexa (10%) and Olathe (9%). Half commute less than 35 miles.

Work in town
0%
0 of 116 working residents
Typical commute
35 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Time each way
31 min
More than KS (20 min)
Work from home
31%
More than KS (12%)
Jobs based here
4
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Fontana?

Read from the numbers below. The page puts what stands out first.

★ What stands out · The commute map

13% of working residents work in Overland Park

A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.

FontanaLa Cygne: 3 residents work here (3%)Paola: 10 residents work here (9%)Osawatomie: 8 residents work here (7%)Lenexa: 12 residents work here (10%)Overland Park: 15 residents work here (13%)Topeka: 4 residents work here (3%)Kansas City: 3 residents work here (3%)Olathe: 11 residents work here (9%)Kansas City: 6 residents work here (5%)Lee's SummitWeaMiddle CreekValleyPaola: 3 residents work here (3%)Overland ParkLenexaOlathePaolaOsawatomieKansas CityFontana
1
Overland Park33.3 mi away
13%15
2
Lenexa37.6 mi away
10%12
3
Olathe31.8 mi away
9%11
4
Paola10.9 mi away
9%10
5
Osawatomie7.7 mi away
7%8
6
Kansas City, MO51.1 mi away
5%6
7
Topeka62.5 mi away
3%4
8
La Cygne6.8 mi away
3%3
9
Kansas City48.7 mi away
3%3
10
Paola12.1 mi away
3%3
Everywhere elseother towns and states
35%41
The top trips

Where Fontana clocks in

Lines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.

Time on the road

About 31 minutes each way, longer than most of Kansas

From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.

A year of commuting
235 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Fontana31 min
Kansas20 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
31%

of Fontana workers work from home, vs 12% across Kansas. Their commute is the hallway.

About 3 in 10
Day and night

Fontana quiets down on a workday

On a workday 116 residents head out to work, 0 work right here, and 4 people come in from elsewhere.

116live here, work elsewhere
0live and work here
4work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night410
Workday300
410live here− 120head out to work+ 4come in to work= 300on a workday

About 300 people are in Fontana on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.03jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.03 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.

How far

Half of Fontana commutes less than 35 miles

Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

10 mi25 mi50 mi70 miOverland Park: 13% · 33.3 miLenexa: 10% · 37.6 miOlathe: 9% · 31.8 miPaola: 9% · 10.9 miOsawatomie: 7% · 7.7 miKansas City: 5% · 51.1 miTopeka: 3% · 62.5 miLa Cygne: 3% · 6.8 miKansas City: 3% · 48.7 miPaola: 3% · 12.1 miOverland Park 13%Lenexa 10%Olathe 9%Paola 9%Osawatomie 7%Fontana
FontanaTop destinations (size = commuters)
14%Under 10 mi15 residents
18%10–24 mi20 residents
47%25–50 mi52 residents
21%Over 50 mi23 residents

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.

The jobs

Mostly services: health care, schools and offices

4 jobs are based in Fontana. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fontana’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in FontanaJobs Fontana residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms0%18%
Trade, transport & utilities0%22%
Services: health, schools, offices100%59%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less75%19%
$1,251–$3,333 a month25%26%
Over $3,333 a month0%55%

Who does it

29 or younger0%15%
30 to 540%53%
55 and older100%33%
−43%

Jobs based in Fontana, 2013 → 2023: 7 → 4. 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.

How to read these numbers

What this data can and can’t tell you

  • Every worker, home to work. The Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.
  • Where the employer says. A job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.
  • Two surveys. Flows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: the Census American Community Survey.
  • Straight lines. Distances are as the crow flies between home and work. Roads, rivers and traffic make the real trip longer.
Beyond the commute

More of Fontana

Fontana home →

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Fontana, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
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Ask neighbors

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.

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