Photo: Dsdugan · Public domainOrofino draws 1,297 commuters a day, with 1.8 jobs for every working resident
Orofino grades D for jobs and income and B for walkability. 1,683 jobs are based in Orofino for 910 working residents. Household incomes here are lower than in 83% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Orofino
Orofino is where the jobs are
Orofino has 1,683 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Orofino’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Orofino is Lewiston, 36 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (95) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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 910 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Orofino’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Orofino is better than 9% of U.S. towns, #57 of 59 in Idaho. The poverty rate holds Orofino’s grade up (13.6%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Orofino could be anywhere from D− to C.
How a workday changes Orofino
On a workday 524 residents head out to work and 386 work right here.
About 4,000 people are in Orofino on a workday afternoon, 24% more 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.
How many miles Orofino commutes
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.
The towns that send workers to Orofino
Where Orofino clocks in
10% of workers
2% 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.
The kinds of work in Orofino
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Orofino, 2013 → 2023: 1,437 → 1,683. 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 Orofino’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Orofino spends getting to work: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Orofino workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,073 commuters (the 12% 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.
Few in Orofino walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Orofino is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns, #43 of 59 in Idaho. Both inputs place Orofino 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 1,215 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). 4.9% of Orofino households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Orofino’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Orofino compares with U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 697 | Hidden Springs ID | 3,378 | $163K | 7.2% | 4.3% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 713 | Dalton Gardens ID | 2,496 | $80K | 4.6% | 1.1% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,097 | Ketchum ID | 3,643 | $93K | 5.2% | 0.0% | 37% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,065 | Avenue B and C AZ | 4,001 | $44K | 19.7% | 19.9% | 1% | D |
| 4,066 | Vado NM | 2,895 | $37K | 25.7% | 8.2% | 2% | D |
| 4,067 | Orofino ID | 3,259 | $53K | 13.6% | 6.5% | 42% | D |
| 4,068 | Freer TX | 2,308 | $64K | 20.1% | 13.2% | 13% | D |
| 4,069 | Barron WI | 3,634 | $47K | 17.7% | 8.0% | 28% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,453 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Orofino, 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 Orofino: questions
What is the median household income in Orofino?
$53,438 (±$12,110) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Orofino?
13.6%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Orofino?
18 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Orofino work?
42% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lewiston (10%, 36 mi), Boise City (2%, 200 mi), Coeur d'Alene (2%, 88 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Orofino walkable?
Orofino is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Orofino without a car?
0% 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 Orofino, from the people who make the trip.
More of Orofino
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.