Work & commute · Great Falls

Work & commute in Great Falls, MT

69% of Great Falls’s working residents work right in town. The top destinations are Helena (4%), Billings (2%) and Missoula (2%). Half commute less than 3 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

69%

17,699 of 25,467 working residents

Typical commute

3 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

15 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 7,768 Great Falls residents head out of town to work, 17,699 work right here, and 10,972 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Great Falls.

7,768live here, work elsewhere

17,699live and work here

10,972work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Great Falls goes to work

Great Falls (in town)right here

69%17,699

Helena71.2 mi away

4%985

Billings176.1 mi away

2%566

Missoula135.2 mi away

2%402

Bozeman126.3 mi away

2%388

Black Eagle2.6 mi away

1%341

Havre103.8 mi away

0%127

Malmstrom AFB5.5 mi away

0%125

Kalispell148.8 mi away

0%115

Helena Valley West Central68.2 mi away

0%98

Everywhere elseother towns and states

18%4,621

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

How far

How far Great Falls commutes

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

76%

22%

76%Under 10 mi

1%10–24 mi

1%25–50 mi

22%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Great Falls is balanced between jobs and homes

1.13jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.13 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Great Falls are

28,671 jobs are based in Great Falls. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Great Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Great Falls

28,671 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)9%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)68%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month32%

Over $3,333 a month50%

Jobs Great Falls residents hold

25,467 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)66%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month32%

Over $3,333 a month50%

−0%

Jobs based in Great Falls, 2013 → 2023: 28,743 → 28,671. 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.