Edward and Ida Soncarty Barn · Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Onaway works elsewhere
Onaway has 12 jobs for 86 working residents. Hardly any stay in Onaway for work; outside it, Pullman is the main destination (23%, 19 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 33 minutes (Idaho 22, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who commutes out of Onaway, and who commutes in
On a workday 86 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 12 people come in from elsewhere.
About 140 people are in Onaway on a workday afternoon, 34% fewer than live here.
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 Onaway commutes to
Where Onaway clocks in
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.
Goods jobs make up 100% of work in Onaway
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Onaway, 2013 → 2023: 67 → 12. 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 Onaway’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Onaway, about 33 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Onaway workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 102 commuters (the 8% 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.
Where in the region Onaway works
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.
Onaway and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Potlatch (6%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Onaway workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Onaway | – | — | — | 33 min | $78,750 |
| Potlatch | 6% | — | — | 28 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Potlatch: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Onaway’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 Onaway: questions
What is the median household income in Onaway?
$78,750 (±$73,784) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Onaway?
15.2%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Onaway?
33 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Onaway work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pullman (23%, 19 mi), Moscow (21%, 15 mi), Potlatch (6%, 1 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Onaway without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Onaway, from the people who make the trip.
More of Onaway
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.