Work & commute · Hays

Work & commute in Hays, MT

About one in 3 of Hays’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Harlem (8%), Missoula (5%) and Helena (4%). Half commute less than 38 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

39%

39 of 100 working residents

Typical commute

38 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

16 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

11%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 61 Hays residents head out of town to work, 39 work right here, and 44 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Hays.

61live here, work elsewhere

39live and work here

44work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Hays goes to work

Hays (in town)right here

39%39

Harlem36.5 mi away

8%8

Missoula262.7 mi away

5%5

Helena185.2 mi away

4%4

Billings153.6 mi away

4%4

Havre59.5 mi away

3%3

Lewistown75.9 mi away

3%3

Malta43.5 mi away

2%2

East Helena181.8 mi away

2%2

Great Falls127.5 mi away

2%2

Everywhere elseother towns and states

28%28

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

How far

How far Hays commutes

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

39%

11%

47%

39%Under 10 mi

3%10–24 mi

11%25–50 mi

47%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Hays is balanced between jobs and homes

0.83jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.83 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Hays are

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

Jobs based in Hays

83 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)7%

Trade, transport & utilities12%

Services (health, schools, offices…)81%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month55%

Jobs Hays residents hold

100 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)66%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month34%

Over $3,333 a month48%

+8%

Jobs based in Hays, 2013 → 2023: 77 → 83. 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.