There are 3.7 jobs in Ponderay for every working resident, and 1,949 people commute in
Employers in Ponderay report 2,036 jobs, and 557 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Ponderay is better than 12% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (A). Household incomes here are lower than in 86% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Ponderay: the gist
Ponderay has far more jobs than workers
Ponderay has 2,036 jobs, 3.7 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 3,500 people are in town, 73% more than the 2,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Ponderay and Sandpoint trade workers both ways
Sandpoint is the top workplace for Ponderay residents (36%) and also where the most people who work in Ponderay come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Ponderay residents work close to home
65% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. 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 557 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Ponderay’s Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Ponderay’s grade up (14.6%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($51,346, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (6.5%) is left out: Ponderay’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, Ponderay could be anywhere from D− to C.
How a workday changes Ponderay
On a workday 470 residents head out to work and 87 work right here.
About 3,500 people are in Ponderay on a workday afternoon, 73% more than live here.
3.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
The daily trip into Ponderay
Where Ponderay clocks in
36% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Ponderay
About 16% 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.
What Ponderay’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ponderay, 2013 → 2023: 1,911 → 2,036. 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 Ponderay’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Ponderay: about 10 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ponderay workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 701 commuters (the 5% 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.
In Ponderay, walking beats the bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 19.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.5% across Idaho, on an EPA index of 8.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 740 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). 2.1% of Ponderay households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 8% of Ponderay’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ponderay next to U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700: 4,532nd of 5,509 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 649 | Dalton Gardens ID | 2,496 | $80K | 4.6% | 1.1% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,250 | Groveland ID | 1,422 | $76K | 2.0% | 4.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,517 | Sun Valley ID | 1,776 | $126K | 6.0% | 0.0% | 25% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,530 | Monte Alto TX | 2,350 | $30K | 67.1% | 2.5% | 3% | D |
| 4,531 | Bald Knob AR | 2,548 | $48K | 16.1% | 6.5% | 11% | D |
| 4,532 | Ponderay ID | 2,024 | $51K | 14.6% | 6.5% | 16% | D |
| 4,533 | Thomson IL | 1,606 | $61K | 21.3% | 8.9% | 5% | D |
| 4,534 | Nettleton MS | 1,934 | $42K | 20.8% | 6.0% | 4% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | 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 Ponderay, the top three, the last and three more from Idaho.
Ponderay and its neighbors: 38% work next door
The biggest share goes to Sandpoint (36%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Ponderay’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 Ponderay: questions
What is the median household income in Ponderay?
$51,346 (±$9,978) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ponderay?
14.6%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ponderay?
10 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ponderay work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sandpoint (36%, 2 mi), Coeur d'Alene (5%, 43 mi), Post Falls (3%, 44 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ponderay walkable?
Ponderay is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 20% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ponderay without a car?
8% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ponderay, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ponderay
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.