Photo: Sociotard · CC BY 3.0Earning a living in Firth
Working residents average 24 minutes each way, next to 22 for Idaho and 26 for the U.S. 4% of workers work from home, against 13% across Idaho. Only 7% work in Firth itself; outside it, Idaho Falls draws the most (33%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Firth on a workday afternoon
On a workday 173 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 173 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.00 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Firth’s working residents head each day
Where Firth clocks in
33% of workers
5% 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.
Firth is a services town
187 jobs are based in Firth.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Firth, 2013 → 2023: 126 → 187. 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 Firth’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Firth, about 24 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Firth workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 156 commuters (the 4% 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.
Half of Firth commutes less than 16 miles
About 22% 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.
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 Firth: questions
What is the median household income in Firth?
$56,250 (±$23,846) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Firth?
12.1%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Firth?
24 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Firth work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Idaho Falls (33%, 15 mi), Shelley (5%, 6 mi), Pocatello (4%, 33 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Firth without a car?
4% 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 Firth, from the people who make the trip.
More of Firth
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.