Work & commute · East Prairie

Work & commute in East Prairie, MO

Most working residents leave East Prairie for work: only 15% work in town. The top destinations are Sikeston (17%), Charleston (8%) and Cape Girardeau (4%). Half commute less than 13 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

15%

170 of 1,134 working residents

Typical commute

13 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

21 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 964 East Prairie residents head out of town to work, 170 work right here, and 300 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in East Prairie.

964live here, work elsewhere

170live and work here

300work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where East Prairie goes to work

Sikeston13.4 mi away

17%193

East Prairie (in town)right here

15%170

Charleston9.9 mi away

8%90

Cape Girardeau37.9 mi away

4%46

New Madrid16.2 mi away

3%34

Miner12.1 mi away

2%21

Matthews10.3 mi away

2%19

Whiting1.1 mi away

1%17

Poplar Bluff57 mi away

1%14

Marston21.9 mi away

1%13

Everywhere elseother towns and states

46%517

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

How far

How far East Prairie commutes

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

34%

36%

12%

19%

34%Under 10 mi

36%10–24 mi

12%25–50 mi

19%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

East Prairie is a commuter town

0.41jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.41 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in East Prairie are

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

Jobs based in East Prairie

470 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)5%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)74%

$1,250 a month or less23%

$1,251–$3,333 a month42%

Over $3,333 a month35%

Jobs East Prairie residents hold

1,134 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities29%

Services (health, schools, offices…)52%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month40%

Over $3,333 a month42%

−49%

Jobs based in East Prairie, 2013 → 2023: 920 → 470. 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.