Empire School · Photo: Ntsimp · CC0Rupert has lower household incomes than 82% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 19.4% of residents, where Idaho as a whole has 10.6%. Jobs and income earn Rupert D; getting around on foot earns it B−. 4% of workers work from home; Idaho has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Rupert at work: what stands out
Rupert trades workers with the towns around it
Rupert has about as many jobs (2,577) as working residents (2,776), but they are mostly different people: 2,307 residents leave for work each day while 2,108 people come in. Only 18% of the jobs in Rupert are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Rupert and Burley trade workers both ways
Burley is the top workplace for Rupert residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Rupert come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Rupert residents work close to home
62% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
Commutes from Rupert 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Rupert
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rupert is better than 11% of U.S. towns, #54 of 59 in Idaho. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Rupert’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rupert could be anywhere from D− to C+.
In and out of Rupert on a workday
On a workday 2,307 residents head out to work, 469 work right here, and 2,108 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 (0.93 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.
18% of working residents work in Burley
Where Rupert clocks in
18% of workers
7% of workers
4% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Rupert
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.
Each way, about 16 minutes from Rupert
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rupert workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,788 commuters (the 4% 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 kinds of work in Rupert
2,577 jobs are based in Rupert.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rupert, 2013 → 2023: 1,950 → 2,577. 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 Rupert’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Rupert walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rupert is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns, #46 of 59 in Idaho. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.5% across Idaho.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,919 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). 11.3% of Rupert households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Rupert’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Rupert compares with U.S. towns of 4,500 to 8,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,289 | Rigby ID | 5,757 | $85K | 9.7% | 2.2% | 12% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,426 | Kimberly ID | 5,798 | $98K | 19.3% | 0.0% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,800 | Fruitland ID | 7,213 | $65K | 8.8% | 1.8% | 18% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,032 | Potsdam NY | 8,019 | $35K | 29.0% | 4.8% | 33% | D |
| 3,033 | Rawlins WY | 7,745 | $65K | 15.4% | 7.0% | 49% | D |
| 3,034 | Rupert ID | 6,460 | $55K | 19.4% | 5.7% | 17% | D |
| 3,035 | Rock Falls IL | 8,521 | $50K | 25.6% | 6.6% | 10% | D |
| 3,036 | Mount Carmel IL | 6,723 | $47K | 20.3% | 4.5% | 33% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,306 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Rupert, 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 Rupert: questions
What is the median household income in Rupert?
$54,741 (±$10,988) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rupert?
19.4%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rupert?
16 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rupert work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Burley (18%, 8 mi), Twin Falls (7%, 40 mi), Heyburn (4%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rupert walkable?
Rupert is more walkable than 49% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rupert without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rupert, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rupert
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.