Photo: rustejunk · CC BY 2.0Households in Kamiah have lower incomes than those in 98% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Kamiah D−; getting around on foot earns it A−. Below the poverty line: 17.5% of residents (Idaho 10.6%). About one in three work in Kamiah; the top destination outside it is Lewiston (7%, 48 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Kamiah: the gist
Kamiah is where the jobs are
Kamiah has 695 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Kamiah are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 22 across Idaho. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Idaho worker. Time on the road ↓
Many jobs in Kamiah pay little
28% of the jobs based in Kamiah pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. 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 346 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Kamiah
On income, poverty and job access, Kamiah is better than 2% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Kamiah’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.6%) is left out: Kamiah’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, Kamiah could be anywhere from D− to D.
The workday shuffle in and out of Kamiah
On a workday 237 residents head out to work, 109 work right here, and 586 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Kamiah on a workday afternoon, 31% more than live here.
2.0 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.
Each way, about 15 minutes from Kamiah
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kamiah workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 329 commuters (the 9% 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.
Jobs in Kamiah: what the 695 are
695 jobs are based in Kamiah.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kamiah, 2013 → 2023: 601 → 695. 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 Kamiah’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who travels to work in Kamiah, and from where
Where Kamiah clocks in
7% of workers
6% 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 Kamiah goes to work
About 21% 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: Kamiah
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kamiah is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Kamiah 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 363 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). 7.0% of Kamiah households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Kamiah’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Kamiah sits among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 401 | Ucon ID | 1,196 | $89K | 4.2% | 1.4% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 451 | Robie Creek ID | 1,213 | $106K | 2.5% | 3.2% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 656 | Groveland ID | 1,422 | $76K | 2.0% | 4.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,615 | Buffalo SC | 1,329 | $22K | 50.5% | 12.8% | 1% | D− |
| 3,616 | Hooper Bay AK | 1,297 | $50K | 22.7% | 14.3% | — | D− |
| 3,617 | Kamiah ID | 1,134 | $36K | 17.5% | 4.6% | 32% | D− |
| 3,618 | Fairfax SC | 1,352 | $41K | 26.8% | 6.1% | 5% | D− |
| 3,619 | Tracy City TN | 1,427 | $39K | 24.2% | 8.3% | 7% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Kamiah, 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 Kamiah: questions
What is the median household income in Kamiah?
$36,071 (±$7,199) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kamiah?
17.5%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kamiah?
15 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kamiah work?
32% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lewiston (7%, 48 mi), Orofino (6%, 21 mi), Nezperce (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kamiah walkable?
Kamiah is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kamiah 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 Kamiah, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kamiah
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.