Work & commute · Kansas

Work & commute in Kansas, MO

48% of Kansas’s working residents work right in town. The top destinations are Kansas City (5%), Overland Park (5%) and North Kansas City (4%). Half commute less than 10 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

48%

110,138 of 231,213 working residents

Typical commute

10 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

22 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

17%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 121,075 Kansas residents head out of town to work, 110,138 work right here, and 198,629 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Kansas.

121,075live here, work elsewhere

110,138live and work here

198,629work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Kansas goes to work

Kansas City (in town)right here

48%110,138

Kansas City, KS10.3 mi away

5%12,565

Overland Park, KS18 mi away

5%12,559

North Kansas City1.3 mi away

4%8,289

Independence11 mi away

3%6,994

Lenexa, KS17.5 mi away

3%6,509

Liberty10.7 mi away

3%6,282

Lee's Summit16.6 mi away

3%5,844

Olathe, KS22.2 mi away

2%4,052

Gladstone6.1 mi away

1%2,939

Everywhere elseother towns and states

24%55,042

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

How far

How far Kansas commutes

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

51%

36%

51%Under 10 mi

36%10–24 mi

4%25–50 mi

9%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Kansas is balanced between jobs and homes

1.34jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.34 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Kansas are

308,767 jobs are based in Kansas. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Kansas’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Kansas

308,767 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)70%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month67%

Jobs Kansas residents hold

231,213 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)67%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month60%

+14%

Jobs based in Kansas, 2013 → 2023: 271,309 → 308,767. 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.