Photo: Leaflet · Public domainAt 2.3%, unemployment in Hailey is lower than in 80% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 2.7 in Boise City. The two grades for Hailey are B for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in three work in Hailey itself; outside it, Ketchum draws the most (23%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Hailey and work: the main findings
Why Hailey gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hailey is better than 60% of U.S. towns, #19 of 59 in Idaho. Unemployment holds Hailey’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 13% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Hailey could be anywhere from C to A−.
The daily flow of workers through Hailey
On a workday 2,972 residents head out to work, 1,285 work right here, and 2,689 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 (0.93 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 the trip to work from Hailey ends
Where Hailey clocks in
23% of workers
12% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 28% of the jobs in Hailey
3,974 jobs are based in Hailey.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hailey, 2013 → 2023: 3,103 → 3,974. 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 Hailey’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Hailey: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hailey workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,096 commuters (the 10% 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.
Hailey’s commute, mile by mile
About 18% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Hailey
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hailey is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns, #2 of 59 in Idaho. Both inputs place Hailey near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,682 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 79% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 79% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 57% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.2% of Hailey households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Hailey’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Hailey ranks: 1,423rd of 2,878 U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,250 | Middleton ID | 12,600 | $89K | 7.9% | 4.1% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,381 | Rathdrum ID | 13,227 | $87K | 12.4% | 1.6% | 9% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,421 | Fernandina Beach FL | 13,869 | $98K | 11.3% | 2.7% | 29% | B |
| 1,422 | North Hanover Township NJ | 8,189 | $87K | 8.7% | 6.0% | 5% | B |
| 1,423 | Hailey ID | 10,053 | $91K | 7.4% | 2.3% | 30% | B |
| 1,424 | Sky Lake FL | 8,116 | $70K | 12.5% | 3.9% | 3% | B |
| 1,425 | Westwood Lakes FL | 10,553 | $86K | 8.3% | 8.3% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,444 | Garden City ID | 13,047 | $70K | 12.0% | 3.4% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Hailey, 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 Hailey: questions
What is the median household income in Hailey?
$90,760 (±$25,410) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hailey?
7.4%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hailey?
19 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hailey work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ketchum (23%, 12 mi), Sun Valley (12%, 12 mi), Bellevue (5%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hailey walkable?
Hailey is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.1 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hailey without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 79% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hailey, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hailey
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.