Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Spawningtrout assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domainJobs, income and commuting in Kootenai, ID
6% of workers work from home (Idaho 13%). Kootenai grades C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Only 2% stay in Kootenai for work; outside it, Sandpoint is the main destination (35%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Kootenai in brief
Kootenai and Sandpoint trade workers both ways
Sandpoint is the top workplace for Kootenai residents (35%) and also where the most people who work in Kootenai come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Kootenai than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Kootenai fell from 622 in 2013 to 331 in 2023, −47%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Most Kootenai residents work close to home
61% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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 386 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Kootenai’s grade
On income, poverty and job access, Kootenai is better than 23% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Kootenai’s grade up ($70,885, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (5.5%) is left out: Kootenai’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Kootenai could be anywhere from D to B−.
Where the trip to work from Kootenai ends
Where Kootenai clocks in
35% 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 Kootenai’s employers do
331 jobs are based in Kootenai.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kootenai, 2013 → 2023: 622 → 331. 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 Kootenai’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Kootenai
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.
Who leaves Kootenai for work, and who comes in
On a workday 378 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 323 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 (0.86 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.
About 15 minutes to work from Kootenai
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kootenai workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 489 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.
Getting around Kootenai: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kootenai is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.5% across Idaho.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 522 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). 5.6% of Kootenai households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Kootenai’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Kootenai is 2,400th among 3,771 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,398 | Monroe Township PA | 1,469 | $67K | 14.9% | 1.4% | 11% | C− |
| 2,399 | Flat Rock NC | 1,062 | $42K | 11.9% | 3.9% | 1% | C− |
| 2,400 | Kootenai ID | 1,091 | $71K | 13.2% | 5.5% | 2% | C− |
| 2,401 | Loyal WI | 1,190 | $65K | 11.8% | 6.4% | 13% | C− |
| 2,402 | Farm Island Township MN | 1,050 | $68K | 9.7% | 0.0% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Kootenai, the top three, the last and three more from Idaho.
Next door is work for 12% of Kootenai
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Ponderay. Darker towns draw more of Kootenai’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Kootenai: questions
What is the median household income in Kootenai?
$70,885 (±$8,997) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kootenai?
13.2%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kootenai?
15 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kootenai work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sandpoint (35%, 3 mi), Ponderay (12%, 1 mi), Coeur d'Alene (4%, 44 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kootenai walkable?
Kootenai is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kootenai without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kootenai, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kootenai
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.