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Work & commute in Liberty · A commuter town

98% of Liberty’s working residents leave town for work

Most working residents leave Liberty for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Great Bend (41%), Great Bend (6%) and Hoisington (5%). Half commute less than 8 miles.

Work in town
2%
2 of 114 working residents
Typical commute
8 mi
half travel less, straight-line
Work from home
0%
Less than KS (12%)
Jobs based here
82
A commuter town

What kind of work town is Liberty?

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

★ What stands out · Next door

54% of Liberty works in a bordering town

The biggest share goes to Great Bend (41%). Darker towns draw more of Liberty’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.

The commute map

41% of working residents work in Great Bend

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

La CrosseHoisington: 6 residents work here (5%)Ellinwood: 4 residents work here (4%)SterlingLarned: 3 residents work here (3%)Hays: 3 residents work here (3%)McPherson: 2 residents work here (2%)Great Bend: 47 residents work here (41%)Wichita: 6 residents work here (5%)LibertyPawnee RockComancheGreat Bend: 7 residents work here (6%)South Bend: 4 residents work here (4%)RiverLincolnBuffalo: 3 residents work here (3%)Great BendGreat BendHoisingtonWichitaEllinwoodSouth BendLiberty
1
Great Bend7.3 mi away
41%47
2
Great Bend11.7 mi away
6%7
3
Hoisington17.5 mi away
5%6
4
Wichita93.5 mi away
5%6
5
Ellinwood17.5 mi away
4%4
6
South Bend7.9 mi away
4%4
7
Larned13.2 mi away
3%3
8
Hays47.6 mi away
3%3
9
Buffalo7.7 mi away
3%3
10
McPherson66.8 mi away
2%2
Everywhere elseother towns and states
25%29
The top trips

Where Liberty clocks in

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

Day and night

Liberty quiets down on a workday

On a workday 112 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 80 people come in from elsewhere.

112live here, work elsewhere
2live and work here
80work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night130
Workday94
130live here− 110head out to work+ 80come in to work= 94on a workday

About 94 people are in Liberty on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.72jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

0.72 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 Liberty commutes less than 8 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 mi80 miGreat Bend: 41% · 7.3 miGreat Bend: 6% · 11.7 miHoisington: 5% · 17.5 miWichita: 5% · 93.5 miEllinwood: 4% · 17.5 miSouth Bend: 4% · 7.9 miLarned: 3% · 13.2 miHays: 3% · 47.6 miBuffalo: 3% · 7.7 miMcPherson: 2% · 66.8 miGreat Bend 41%Great Bend 6%Hoisington 5%Wichita 5%Ellinwood 4%Liberty
LibertyTop destinations (size = commuters)
53%Under 10 mi60 residents
20%10–24 mi23 residents
10%25–50 mi11 residents
17%Over 50 mi19 residents

About 17% 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

Liberty makes things: 55% of its jobs are in goods

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

Jobs based in LibertyJobs Liberty residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms55%18%
Trade, transport & utilities45%23%
Services: health, schools, offices0%59%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less5%16%
$1,251–$3,333 a month21%25%
Over $3,333 a month74%59%

Who does it

29 or younger22%21%
30 to 5446%48%
55 and older32%31%
−19%

Jobs based in Liberty, 2013 → 2023: 101 → 82. 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.

Time on the road

Working from home in Liberty

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

Working from home
0%

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

About 0 in 10
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 Liberty

Liberty home →

Commuter talk

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

Town Square →
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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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