Work & commute · Belt

Work & commute in Belt, MT

Most working residents leave Belt for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Great Falls (47%), Neihart (4%) and Helena (4%). Half commute less than 19 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

10 of 173 working residents

Typical commute

19 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 163 Belt residents head out of town to work, 10 work right here, and 182 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Belt.

163live here, work elsewhere

10live and work here

182work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Belt goes to work

Great Falls19.1 mi away

47%81

Belt (in town)right here

6%10

Neihart32.5 mi away

4%7

Helena75.1 mi away

4%7

Bozeman117.9 mi away

3%6

Missoula149.9 mi away

3%5

Havre98.5 mi away

2%3

Billings157.9 mi away

2%3

Choteau65.3 mi away

1%2

Black Eagle18.3 mi away

1%2

Everywhere elseother towns and states

27%47

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

How far

How far Belt commutes

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

55%

31%

9%Under 10 mi

55%10–24 mi

5%25–50 mi

31%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Belt is balanced between jobs and homes

1.11jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.11 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Belt are

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

Jobs based in Belt

192 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)7%

Trade, transport & utilities6%

Services (health, schools, offices…)88%

$1,250 a month or less24%

$1,251–$3,333 a month40%

Over $3,333 a month36%

Jobs Belt residents hold

173 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)62%

$1,250 a month or less20%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month54%

+31%

Jobs based in Belt, 2013 → 2023: 147 → 192. 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.