With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Bend works elsewhere
Hardly any stay in Bend for work; outside it, Red Bluff is the main destination (28%, 6 miles). Employers in Bend report 100 jobs for 233 working residents. Home is the office for 15% of workers (California 17%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Bend
Bend and Red Bluff trade workers both ways
Red Bluff is the top workplace for Bend residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Bend come from (27% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 233 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Commuting out of Bend: the destinations
Where Bend clocks in
11% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
How far it is to work from Bend
About 30% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Bend by day and by night
On a workday 232 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 99 people come in from elsewhere.
About 460 people are in Bend on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Goods jobs make up 82% of work in Bend
100 jobs are based in Bend.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bend, 2013 → 2023: 91 → 100. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Bend’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Bend
of Bend workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 218 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Bend: questions
What is the poverty rate in Bend?
2.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Bend work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Red Bluff (28%, 6 mi), Redding (11%, 23 mi), Chico (4%, 40 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Bend without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bend, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bend
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer.