Work & commute · Athens

Work & commute in Athens, MO

About one in 4 of Athens’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Albany (27%), St. Joseph (11%) and Kansas City (7%). Half commute less than 29 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

27%

266 of 979 working residents

Typical commute

29 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

19 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 713 Athens residents head out of town to work, 266 work right here, and 660 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Athens.

713live here, work elsewhere

266live and work here

660work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Athens goes to work

Albany2.6 mi away

27%262

St. Joseph42.9 mi away

11%109

Kansas City77.5 mi away

7%66

Bethany14 mi away

5%50

Maryville31.6 mi away

5%50

Stanberry13.1 mi away

4%37

King City17.5 mi away

2%16

Independence79 mi away

1%14

Kansas City, KS80.1 mi away

1%11

Columbia137 mi away

1%11

Everywhere elseother towns and states

36%353

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Athens commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

30%

15%

23%

32%

30%Under 10 mi

15%10–24 mi

23%25–50 mi

32%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Athens is balanced between jobs and homes

0.95jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.95 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Athens are

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

Jobs based in Athens

926 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)30%

Trade, transport & utilities12%

Services (health, schools, offices…)59%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month37%

Over $3,333 a month46%

Jobs Athens residents hold

979 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)21%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)61%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month36%

Over $3,333 a month46%

+6%

Jobs based in Athens, 2013 → 2023: 874 → 926. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe 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 saysA 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 surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.