Wholesale plastic pallets shipped to Montana

Measured against the national total for each industry, Montana is strongest in grocery and related product wholesale, with 0.30% of the US jobs, and weakest in food manufacturing, with 0.14%. The state holds 0.02% of US warehousing jobs, so a share above that line means the industry is bigger here than the warehousing base alone suggests.

Yellowstone holds 28.5% of the state's warehousing jobs, and the 3 counties shown together hold 50.2%. Counties with undisclosed data are left out, so these are floors, not complete counts.

Montana stands 159 jobs behind Alaska. The median state has 23,211 warehousing jobs, so Montana sits at 2 percent of that line.

• The average Montana warehousing site employs 8 people against 81 nationally, so a typical site here is 10 percent the size of the national one.
• Food manufacturing employs 5.82 people for every warehousing job in Montana; across the whole country the figure is 0.93.
• Motor vehicle assembly and parts together account for 56 jobs in Montana, 0.0% of the 809,845 nationwide.
• Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing adds 631 jobs, 0.18% of the national 350,886, which makes it 41st of the 46 states that report.
• California has the most warehousing jobs of any state, 236,923, and Montana has 0.2% of that.
• By number of warehousing establishments Montana is 45th of fifty, and by average site size it is 50th, so it has more sites than its job count alone would suggest.
• In food manufacturing Montana ranks 49th with 2,492 jobs, 0.1% of the US total of 1,775,008.
• The 3 counties shown hold 215 of the state's 428 warehousing jobs, so 213 sit in other counties or in counties whose data is not disclosed.

Our sources show no figure for Montana in motor vehicle assembly and cold storage capacity. Those gaps are in the data, which hides or omits small cells to protect privacy; they are not a claim that the industry is absent, and a missing row above means the same.

Loads for Montana often share a corridor with the neighbours below. The ratio column divides the neighbour's warehousing jobs by Montana's 428, so a ratio above 1 means a larger warehousing base across the line.

Lane pages for the neighbours: Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

The table sets Montana beside each state that borders it on the same five measures: establishments, jobs per site, food manufacturing jobs for each warehousing job, share of the US warehousing total, and sites for every thousand warehousing jobs. All of it is arithmetic on the BLS counts named in the sources.

• To reach the median state's 23,211 warehousing jobs, Montana would need to add 22,783; to reach its 306 median sites it would need to add 254.
• Its 0.02% of US warehousing jobs compares with 0.14% of US food manufacturing jobs, a ratio of 6.24: food plants weigh more here than warehouses do.
• If each of the 52 sites took one standard 53 ft trailer of pallets a month, the state would see 624 trailers a year; that is an illustration of scale, not a forecast of demand.
• ZIP codes in Montana fall in 590 to 599, so the first three digits of a ship-to are enough to place a dock inside the state.
• Food manufacturing is the largest listed industry on this page at 2,492 jobs, 5.82 for every warehousing job and 48 for every warehousing site.
• Dividing the 2,492 food manufacturing jobs by the 52 warehousing sites gives 47.9; across the country the same division gives 76.0.
• The state's 0.02% of US warehousing jobs equals one job in every 5,000 nationwide.

A thought experiment with the same data: if all 52 Montana sites were the size of the average US site, at 81.5 jobs, the state would have 4,237 warehousing jobs, which is 3,809 more than the 428 it has. Its sites are smaller than the national average.

• Idaho has 2,017 more warehousing jobs, 94 more sites and 18,871 more food manufacturing jobs than Montana, so a Idaho dock averages 16.7 jobs per site against 8.2 here, and 8.74 food jobs for each warehousing job against 5.82.
• North Dakota has 1,010 more warehousing jobs, 9 more sites and 3,072 more food manufacturing jobs than Montana, so a North Dakota dock averages 23.6 jobs per site against 8.2 here, and 3.87 food jobs for each warehousing job against 5.82.
• South Dakota has 2,841 more warehousing jobs, 10 fewer sites and 8,374 more food manufacturing jobs than Montana, so a South Dakota dock averages 77.8 jobs per site against 8.2 here, and 3.32 food jobs for each warehousing job against 5.82.
• Wyoming has 1,546 more warehousing jobs, 29 fewer sites and 1,590 fewer food manufacturing jobs than Montana, so a Wyoming dock averages 85.8 jobs per site against 8.2 here, and 0.46 food jobs for each warehousing job against 5.82.

• Food manufacturing employs 2,492 in Montana, 0.14% of the 1,775,008 nationwide; for every warehousing job the state has 5.82 of these jobs.
• Grocery and related product wholesale employs 2,459 in Montana, 0.30% of the 829,364 nationwide; for every warehousing job the state has 5.75 of these jobs.

• Yellowstone is 1st of the counties shown with 122 warehousing jobs, which is 14.8 times the average Montana site headcount of 8 and 0.01% of all US warehousing jobs.
• Gallatin is 2nd of the counties shown with 48 warehousing jobs, which is 5.8 times the average Montana site headcount of 8 and 0.00% of all US warehousing jobs.
• Toole is 3rd of the counties shown with 45 warehousing jobs, which is 5.5 times the average Montana site headcount of 8 and 0.00% of all US warehousing jobs.

• The dock address and ZIP; ZIPs in Montana begin with 590 to 599.
• Receiving hours and whether delivery needs an appointment.
• The footprint and the number of pallets, or the number of trailers.
• The three ratings the load needs, or a description of the load.
• Resin and colourant papers wanted, if the pallets touch food or pharma product.
• The month you want them, and whether a standing supply follows.
• Whether the dock has a loading dock or needs a liftgate trailer.