Work & commute · Cooper

Work & commute in Cooper, MO

Most working residents leave Cooper for work: only 16% work in town. The top destinations are St. Joseph (18%), Stanberry (14%) and Kansas City (9%). Half commute less than 33 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

16%

115 of 738 working residents

Typical commute

33 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

19 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

13%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 623 Cooper residents head out of town to work, 115 work right here, and 447 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Cooper.

623live here, work elsewhere

115live and work here

447work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Cooper goes to work

St. Joseph35 mi away

18%130

Stanberry1.6 mi away

14%105

Kansas City74.8 mi away

9%63

Albany9.7 mi away

7%51

King City10.8 mi away

7%49

Maryville21.2 mi away

4%33

Bethany25.7 mi away

2%14

Jackson7.4 mi away

1%11

Huggins5.5 mi away

1%9

Cameron35.2 mi away

1%8

Everywhere elseother towns and states

36%265

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

How far

How far Cooper commutes

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

21%

20%

26%

33%

21%Under 10 mi

20%10–24 mi

26%25–50 mi

33%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Cooper is balanced between jobs and homes

0.76jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Cooper are

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

Jobs based in Cooper

562 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)6%

Trade, transport & utilities27%

Services (health, schools, offices…)67%

$1,250 a month or less26%

$1,251–$3,333 a month38%

Over $3,333 a month36%

Jobs Cooper residents hold

738 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)17%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)58%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month32%

Over $3,333 a month51%

−15%

Jobs based in Cooper, 2013 → 2023: 662 → 562. 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.