Work & commute · St. Louis

Work & commute in St. Louis, MO

About one in 3 of St. Louis’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Clayton (4%), Maryland Heights (4%) and Creve Coeur (3%). Half commute less than 6 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

39%

49,715 of 126,021 working residents

Typical commute

6 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 76,306 St. Louis residents head out of town to work, 49,715 work right here, and 161,277 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in St. Louis.

76,306live here, work elsewhere

49,715live and work here

161,277work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where St. Louis goes to work

St. Louis (in town)right here

39%49,715

Clayton4.7 mi away

4%4,716

Maryland Heights13.5 mi away

4%4,648

Creve Coeur10.9 mi away

3%3,947

Chesterfield18.1 mi away

2%3,022

Berkeley9.1 mi away

2%1,973

Brentwood5.7 mi away

1%1,761

Town and Country12.5 mi away

1%1,742

Bridgeton13.3 mi away

1%1,724

Webster Groves6.8 mi away

1%1,619

Everywhere elseother towns and states

41%51,154

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

How far

How far St. Louis commutes

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

66%

25%

66%Under 10 mi

25%10–24 mi

2%25–50 mi

6%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

St. Louis is a job hub

1.67jobs per working resident

A job hub

1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in St. Louis are

210,992 jobs are based in St. Louis. Here is what they are, next to the jobs St. Louis’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in St. Louis

210,992 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities11%

Services (health, schools, offices…)77%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month21%

Over $3,333 a month68%

Jobs St. Louis residents hold

126,021 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)74%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month29%

Over $3,333 a month56%

−4%

Jobs based in St. Louis, 2013 → 2023: 220,260 → 210,992. 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.