Moscow Downtown Historic District · Photo: Candy29c · CC BY-SA 3.0College students make up 34% of Moscow’s residents
About half work in Moscow itself; outside it, Pullman draws the most (18%, 8 miles). Moscow grades C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. The trip to work takes 14 minutes on average, where Idaho has 22 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Moscow
A lot of Moscow workers cross into Washington
18% of Moscow workers work outside Idaho, the Census survey finds. In the commute data, Pullman (18%), Spokane (1%) and Spokane Valley (1%) are among the top workplaces. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Moscow are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 22 across Idaho. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Idaho worker. Time on the road ↓
A young workforce
30% of Moscow’s working residents are 29 or younger. 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Moscow
On family income, poverty and job access, Moscow is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #45 of 59 in Idaho. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Moscow’s grade.
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (24% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 14.0%, against 25.1% for all residents. Unemployment (7.9%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($81,754), since student households pull the household median down ($57,022).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Moscow could be anywhere from D to C+.
Where people from Moscow work
Where Moscow clocks in
4% of workers
3% 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 Moscow takes about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Moscow workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,760 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.
The 11,059 jobs based in Moscow
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Moscow, 2013 → 2023: 9,805 → 11,059. 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 Moscow’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Moscow on a workday
On a workday 5,089 residents head out to work, 4,915 work right here, and 6,144 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 (1.11 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 commute from Moscow, by distance
About 19% 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.
Moscow is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Moscow is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #13 of 59 in Idaho. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 16.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.5% across Idaho, on an EPA index of 7.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 13,103 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). 4.7% of Moscow households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Moscow’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Moscow sits among U.S. towns of 19,000 to 36,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 197 | Eagle ID | 34,658 | $123K | 6.1% | 2.0% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 383 | Kuna ID | 31,525 | $96K | 6.8% | 1.9% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 784 | Ammon ID | 20,119 | $86K | 5.4% | 5.1% | 10% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,333 | Chambersburg PA | 23,376 | $57K | 15.3% | 7.8% | 27% | C− |
| 1,334 | Selma CA | 24,702 | $60K | 19.0% | 13.3% | 12% | C− |
| 1,335 | Moscow ID | 26,721 | $57K | 25.1% | 7.9% | 49% | C− |
| 1,336 | East Chicago IN | 25,610 | $42K | 26.3% | 7.7% | 16% | C− |
| 1,337 | Fort Dodge IA | 24,837 | $61K | 15.9% | 6.0% | 51% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,477 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Moscow, 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.
- Students. 34% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Moscow: questions
What is the median household income in Moscow?
$57,022 (±$3,950) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Moscow?
25.1% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 14.0%. Idaho: 10.6%.
How long is the commute from Moscow?
14 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Moscow work?
49% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pullman (18%, 8 mi), Lewiston (4%, 23 mi), Boise City (3%, 220 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Moscow walkable?
Moscow is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and 17% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Moscow without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Moscow, from the people who make the trip.
More of Moscow
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.