Pocatello Westside Residential Historic District · Photo: Eric Kjaemperud · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Pocatello earn less than those in 73% of U.S. towns
More than half work in Pocatello itself; outside it, Chubbuck draws the most (9%, 4 miles). Poverty touches 14.8% of residents (Idaho 10.6%). For jobs and income Pocatello is better than 33% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Pocatello: the figures worth knowing
Most jobs in Pocatello go to people who live here
Of the 25,431 jobs based in Pocatello, 48% are held by Pocatello residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Pocatello are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 22 across Idaho. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Idaho worker. 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.
The figures behind Pocatello’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Pocatello’s grade up (ahead of 51% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($60,418, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pocatello could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Who leaves Pocatello for work, and who comes in
On a workday 11,267 residents head out to work, 12,334 work right here, and 13,097 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 (1.08 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 trip to work from Pocatello: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pocatello workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 24,109 commuters (the 11% 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 the trip to work from Pocatello ends
Where Pocatello clocks in
8% 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.
What the 25,431 jobs in Pocatello are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pocatello, 2013 → 2023: 23,215 → 25,431. 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 Pocatello’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Pocatello to work
About 18% 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.
In Pocatello, walking beats the bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 27,119 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). 5.8% of Pocatello households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Pocatello’s commuters take a bus or train.
Pocatello is 629th of 749 U.S. towns of 41,000 to 79,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Keller TX | 46,078 | $175K | 3.4% | 2.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 440 | Coeur d'Alene ID | 58,179 | $72K | 9.2% | 2.9% | 44% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 466 | Post Falls ID | 46,715 | $82K | 11.1% | 3.3% | 22% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 512 | Idaho Falls ID | 71,785 | $73K | 11.5% | 4.2% | 54% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 627 | Victoria TX | 66,500 | $67K | 18.3% | 4.7% | 43% | C |
| 628 | Salina KS | 46,094 | $62K | 13.0% | 5.2% | 61% | C |
| 629 | Pocatello ID | 58,771 | $60K | 14.8% | 4.4% | 52% | C |
| 630 | Hammond IN | 75,712 | $56K | 19.1% | 6.5% | 18% | C |
| 631 | Woonsocket RI | 44,580 | $61K | 18.7% | 6.8% | 15% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 749 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Pocatello, the top three, the last and three more from Idaho.
How Pocatello compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Chubbuck. Darker towns draw more of Pocatello’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 Pocatello: questions
What is the median household income in Pocatello?
$60,418 (±$4,648) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pocatello?
14.8%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pocatello?
16 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pocatello work?
52% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chubbuck (9%, 4 mi), Idaho Falls (8%, 48 mi), Boise City (3%, 196 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pocatello walkable?
Pocatello is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pocatello without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pocatello, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pocatello
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.