Gorby Opera Theater · Photo: publichall · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Glenns Ferry earn less than those in 86% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 23.2% of residents, against 10.6% across Idaho. The two grades for Glenns Ferry are D− for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in four work in Glenns Ferry itself; outside it, Boise City draws the most (14%, 64 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Glenns Ferry: the gist
Glenns Ferry’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Glenns Ferry is Boise City, 65 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (70) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
39% 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 ↓
Fewer than half of Glenns Ferry workers earn over $40,000 a year
40% of Glenns Ferry’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
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 514 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Glenns Ferry’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Glenns Ferry is better than 2% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Glenns Ferry’s grade.
Unemployment (1.1%) is left out: Glenns Ferry’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Glenns Ferry could be anywhere from D− to D.
Half of Glenns Ferry commutes less than 30 miles
About 39% 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.
Inside Glenns Ferry’s 450 jobs
450 jobs are based in Glenns Ferry.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Glenns Ferry, 2013 → 2023: 399 → 450. 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 Glenns Ferry’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Glenns Ferry
On a workday 373 residents head out to work, 141 work right here, and 309 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 (0.88 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.
The places Glenns Ferry commutes to
Where Glenns Ferry clocks in
14% of workers
9% 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.
Getting to work from Glenns Ferry takes about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Glenns Ferry workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 548 commuters (the 6% 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.
In Glenns Ferry, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Glenns Ferry is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 17.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.5% across Idaho, on an EPA index of 9.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 585 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). 6.8% of Glenns Ferry households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Glenns Ferry’s commuters take a bus or train.
Glenns Ferry and other U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 544 | Ucon ID | 1,196 | $89K | 4.2% | 1.4% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 610 | Robie Creek ID | 1,213 | $106K | 2.5% | 3.2% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 877 | Groveland ID | 1,422 | $76K | 2.0% | 4.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,611 | Spring Glen UT | 1,157 | $52K | 28.5% | 2.0% | <1% | D− |
| 4,612 | Julesburg CO | 1,217 | $44K | 17.5% | 3.7% | 23% | D− |
| 4,613 | Glenns Ferry ID | 1,256 | $52K | 23.2% | 1.1% | 27% | D− |
| 4,614 | Cannelton IN | 1,488 | $29K | 39.8% | 12.0% | 6% | D− |
| 4,615 | Erie KS | 1,034 | $37K | 19.6% | 0.0% | 7% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Glenns 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 Glenns Ferry: questions
What is the median household income in Glenns Ferry?
$51,840 (±$9,300) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Glenns Ferry?
23.2%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Glenns Ferry?
22 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Glenns Ferry work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Boise City (14%, 64 mi), Mountain Home (9%, 23 mi), Twin Falls (4%, 51 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Glenns Ferry walkable?
Glenns Ferry is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.2 out of 20, and 17% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Glenns Ferry without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Glenns Ferry, from the people who make the trip.
More of Glenns 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.