Fort Boise and Riverside Ferry Sites · Photo: Sketch by William H. Tappan · Public domainHouseholds in Parma have lower incomes than those in 89% of U.S. towns
21.3% of residents live below the poverty line, where Idaho as a whole has 10.6%. The two grades for Parma are D for jobs and income and B for walkability. 2% of workers work from home, against 13% across Idaho.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Parma at work: what stands out
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Parma
On income, poverty and job access, Parma is better than 8% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Parma’s grade up (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($49,231, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.6%) is left out: Parma’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, Parma could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Parma’s commute takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Parma workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 761 commuters (the 2% 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.
How a workday changes Parma
On a workday 724 residents head out to work, 85 work right here, and 438 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Parma on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.65 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
13% of working residents work in Caldwell
Where Parma clocks in
13% of workers
13% of workers
13% 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.
Jobs in Parma: what the 523 are
523 jobs are based in Parma.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Parma, 2013 → 2023: 540 → 523. 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 Parma’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Parma
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.
Most trips from Parma start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Parma is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.5% across Idaho, on an EPA index of 5.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 779 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.3% of Parma households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Parma’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Parma ranks: 4,952nd of 5,641 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 3,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 699 | Dalton Gardens ID | 2,496 | $80K | 4.6% | 1.1% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,621 | Sun Valley ID | 1,776 | $126K | 6.0% | 0.0% | 25% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,190 | Driggs ID | 2,403 | $95K | 11.6% | 2.1% | 24% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,950 | Moira NY | 2,871 | $64K | 20.1% | 6.9% | 8% | D |
| 4,951 | Louisville GA | 2,237 | $50K | 15.3% | 3.5% | 17% | D |
| 4,952 | Parma ID | 2,203 | $49K | 21.3% | 3.6% | 11% | D |
| 4,953 | White Hall IL | 2,159 | $55K | 17.3% | 5.1% | 14% | D |
| 4,954 | Moroni UT | 1,710 | $66K | 21.0% | 9.0% | 15% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,641 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Parma, 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 Parma: questions
What is the median household income in Parma?
$49,231 (±$10,396) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Parma?
21.3%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Parma?
21 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Parma work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Caldwell (13%, 17 mi), Nampa (13%, 23 mi), Boise City (13%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Parma walkable?
Parma is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Parma without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Parma, from the people who make the trip.
More of Parma
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.