Regional Labor Shed

This page focuses on the Regional Labor Shed of Pottawatomie County, or basically who lives and works in different regions of Northeast Kansas. Pottawatomie County is by no means isolated. Instead, it shares several important linkages and a shared labor pool. The county has strong ties to Riley County (Manhattan) and Shawnee County (Topeka), and to some extent, the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The image below depicts the percentages of people who live and work in the region. So, 39.3% of people who live in Pottawatomie County, work in the county. 20.1% of people who live in Riley County, work in Pottawatomie County.

The image below depicts where Pottawatomie County residents commute. So 36.6% of the county’s workers commute to Riley County, or 10.6% for Shawnee County.

According to 2017’s “On the Map” data by the U.S. Census Bureau, 6,958 residents of other counties  commute to Pottawatomie County for work. 4,310 people live and work in the county, while
6,898 Pottawatomie County residents commute outside of the county for work.

According to the data set from the Census Bureau, 61.8% of Pottawatomie County workers live outside of the county, while 38.2% of workers live in the county. 61.5% of those living in Pottawatomie work outside the county.

The mean commute time for Pottawatomie County workers, excluding those under 16 or working at home, is 21.7 minutes.

(OnTheMap/Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020)