Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Rexburg has lower family incomes than 94% of U.S. towns
Leaving out college students, 21.8% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 9.8% for Idaho as a whole. Rexburg grades D for jobs and income and A for walkability. About two in five work in Rexburg itself; outside it, Idaho Falls draws the most (13%, 26 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Rexburg: the gist
A young workforce
50% of Rexburg’s working residents are 29 or younger, about one in three. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Rexburg workers earn over $40,000 a year
37% of Rexburg’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 29% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Rexburg are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 22 across Idaho. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Idaho worker. Time on the road ↓
Rexburg’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Rexburg is Idaho Falls, 26 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (1,423) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Many jobs in Rexburg pay little
30% of the jobs based in Rexburg pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 42% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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 Rexburg’s Jobs & income grade
On family income, poverty and job access, Rexburg is better than 11% of U.S. towns, #55 of 59 in Idaho. Job access by car holds Rexburg’s grade up (ahead of 45% of U.S. towns); family income pulls it down ($54,056, U.S. $99,999).
54% of Rexburg’s residents are college students, and off-campus students count in the Census poverty figures. Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (39% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 21.8%, against 32.5% for all residents. Unemployment (8.8%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($54,056), since student households pull the household median down ($50,617).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Rexburg could be anywhere from D to C−.
The kinds of work in Rexburg
12,826 jobs are based in Rexburg.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rexburg, 2013 → 2023: 9,862 → 12,826. 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 Rexburg’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 15 minutes to work from Rexburg
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rexburg workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 18,795 commuters (the 14% 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.
Rexburg’s commute, mile by mile
About 24% 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 6,193 residents head out to work, 4,420 work right here, and 8,406 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 (1.21 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.
Where people from Rexburg work
Where Rexburg clocks in
13% of workers
4% 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.
Rexburg is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rexburg is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #7 of 59 in Idaho.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 21,771 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). 2.6% of Rexburg households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Rexburg’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 28,000 to 54,000, and where Rexburg sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 140 | Eagle ID | 34,658 | $123K | 6.1% | 2.0% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 278 | Kuna ID | 31,525 | $96K | 6.8% | 1.9% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 664 | Post Falls ID | 46,715 | $82K | 11.1% | 3.3% | 22% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,067 | Nacogdoches TX | 32,500 | $39K | 31.5% | 8.2% | 42% | D |
| 1,068 | Marion Township OH | 43,499 | $50K | 20.4% | 8.8% | 33% | D |
| 1,069 | Rexburg ID | 40,334 | $51K | 32.5% | 8.8% | 42% | D |
| 1,070 | Hattiesburg MS | 48,802 | $46K | 28.3% | 8.7% | 56% | D |
| 1,071 | Monroe LA | 46,860 | $41K | 35.9% | 10.2% | 52% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,086 | 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 Rexburg, the top three, the last and three more from Idaho.
Rexburg and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Sugar City (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rexburg workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rexburg | – | D | A | 15 min | $50,617 |
| Sugar City | 1% | C+ | B+ | 20 min | $66,953 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Rexburg’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.
- Students. 54% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Rexburg: questions
What is the median household income in Rexburg?
$50,617 (±$4,891) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rexburg?
32.5% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 21.8%. Idaho: 10.6%.
How long is the commute from Rexburg?
15 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rexburg work?
42% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Idaho Falls (13%, 26 mi), Boise City (4%, 222 mi), Ammon (2%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rexburg walkable?
Rexburg is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 22% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rexburg without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rexburg, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rexburg
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.