Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domainFewer people are out of work in Bonners Ferry (0.7%) than in 96% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Bonners Ferry; the top destination outside it is Sandpoint (8%, 30 miles). Bonners Ferry grades C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Measured by household income, Bonners Ferry is behind 85% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Bonners Ferry
Bonners Ferry is where the jobs are
Bonners Ferry has 1,631 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Bonners Ferry’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Bonners Ferry is Sandpoint, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (74) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Bonners Ferry are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 22 across Idaho. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Idaho worker. Time on the road ↓
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 883 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Bonners Ferry
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bonners Ferry is better than 32% of U.S. towns, #39 of 59 in Idaho. Unemployment holds Bonners Ferry’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bonners Ferry could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Bonners Ferry by day and by night
On a workday 621 residents head out to work, 262 work right here, and 1,369 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,500 people are in Bonners Ferry on a workday afternoon, 27% more than live here.
1.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
How many miles Bonners Ferry commutes
About 24% 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.
Commuting from Bonners Ferry: about 17 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bonners Ferry workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,159 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Idaho: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The daily trip into Bonners Ferry
Where Bonners Ferry clocks in
8% of workers
3% 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.
What Bonners Ferry’s employers do
1,631 jobs are based in Bonners Ferry.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bonners Ferry, 2013 → 2023: 1,710 → 1,631. 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 Bonners Ferry’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Bonners Ferry is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bonners Ferry is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #15 of 59 in Idaho. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 16.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.5% across Idaho, on an EPA index of 7.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,261 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.5% of Bonners Ferry households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bonners Ferry’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Bonners Ferry is 3,114th among 4,703 U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 675 | Hidden Springs ID | 3,378 | $163K | 7.2% | 4.3% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 696 | Dalton Gardens ID | 2,496 | $80K | 4.6% | 1.1% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,078 | Ketchum ID | 3,643 | $93K | 5.2% | 0.0% | 37% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,112 | Mondovi WI | 2,853 | $54K | 13.3% | 3.4% | 22% | C |
| 3,113 | Alexandria NY | 3,632 | $85K | 7.1% | 7.1% | 27% | C |
| 3,114 | Bonners Ferry ID | 2,797 | $53K | 13.4% | 0.7% | 30% | C |
| 3,115 | Georgetown IL | 3,006 | $58K | 17.3% | 2.7% | 6% | C |
| 3,116 | Momence IL | 3,158 | $58K | 10.1% | 6.1% | 13% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,703 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Bonners Ferry, the top three, the last and three more from Idaho.
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 Bonners Ferry: questions
What is the median household income in Bonners Ferry?
$52,500 (±$12,023) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bonners Ferry?
13.4%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bonners Ferry?
17 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bonners Ferry work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sandpoint (8%, 30 mi), Coeur d'Alene (4%, 72 mi), Boise City (3%, 352 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bonners Ferry walkable?
Bonners Ferry is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 17% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bonners Ferry without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bonners Ferry, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bonners Ferry
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. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.