Photo: Steve Shook · CC BY 2.0Plummer has 1.8 jobs for every working resident: 584 people commute in to work
638 jobs are based in Plummer; 351 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Plummer is better than 7% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (B−). Household incomes here are lower than in 82% 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 Plummer
Plummer is where the jobs are
Plummer has 638 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Plummer than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Plummer fell from 847 in 2013 to 638 in 2023, −25%. 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 ↓
Few Plummer workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 13% across Idaho. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 351 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Plummer’s grade explained
The poverty rate holds Plummer’s grade up (15.0%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (5.4%) is left out: Plummer’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, Plummer could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The daily flow of workers through Plummer
On a workday 297 residents head out to work and 54 work right here.
About 1,400 people are in Plummer on a workday afternoon, 25% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Plummer
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Plummer, 2013 → 2023: 847 → 638. 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 Plummer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Plummer takes about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Plummer workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 527 commuters (the 3% 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 daily trip into Plummer
Where Plummer clocks in
20% 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.
How far Plummer goes to work
About 15% 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.
Most trips from Plummer start in a car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.5% across Idaho, on an EPA index of 4.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 543 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). 7.9% of Plummer households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Plummer’s commuters take a bus or train.
Plummer next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500: 3,278th of 3,771 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,276 | Monroe Township PA | 1,090 | $57K | 17.5% | 3.8% | 1% | D |
| 3,277 | Buttonwillow CA | 1,163 | $35K | 25.1% | 4.0% | 1% | D |
| 3,278 | Plummer ID | 1,130 | $54K | 15.0% | 5.4% | 15% | D |
| 3,279 | Capitan NM | 1,402 | $53K | 14.4% | 6.5% | 10% | D |
| 3,280 | Sangerville ME | 1,336 | $50K | 13.5% | 6.9% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Plummer, 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 Plummer: questions
What is the median household income in Plummer?
$54,306 (±$8,546) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Plummer?
15.0%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Plummer?
19 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Plummer work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Maries (20%, 15 mi), Coeur d'Alene (8%, 26 mi), Boise City (3%, 260 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Plummer walkable?
Plummer is more walkable than 50% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 4.6 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Plummer without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Plummer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Plummer
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.