Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 4.0Making a living in Shoshone
About one in ten stay in Shoshone for work; outside it, Twin Falls is the main destination (9%, 26 miles). Shoshone grades C− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Home is the office for 4% of workers; Idaho has 13%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Shoshone at work: what stands out
Shoshone workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 38 minutes each way, against 22 across Idaho. Over a year that’s about 291 hours of commuting, 123 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Shoshone’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Shoshone is Twin Falls, 26 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (69) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Shoshone workers work from home
Only 4% 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 793 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Shoshone
On income, poverty and job access, Shoshone is better than 25% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Shoshone’s grade up (10.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 11% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (8.6%) is left out: Shoshone’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, Shoshone could be anywhere from D to C+.
Getting to work from Shoshone takes about 38 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shoshone workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 863 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.
Miles to work from Shoshone
About 26% 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 commutes out of Shoshone, and who commutes in
On a workday 714 residents head out to work, 79 work right here, and 581 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 (0.83 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 Shoshone’s working residents head each day
Where Shoshone clocks in
9% of workers
9% of workers
7% 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.
Jobs in Shoshone: what the 660 are
660 jobs are based in Shoshone.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shoshone, 2013 → 2023: 604 → 660. 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 Shoshone’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Few in Shoshone walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Shoshone is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Shoshone near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 900 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). 1.9% of Shoshone households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Shoshone’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400, Shoshone ranks 3,997th of 6,085 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 922 | Robie Creek ID | 1,213 | $106K | 2.5% | 3.2% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,276 | Groveland ID | 1,422 | $76K | 2.0% | 4.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,560 | Sun Valley ID | 1,776 | $126K | 6.0% | 0.0% | 25% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,995 | Victory Township MI | 1,415 | $66K | 9.4% | 8.2% | 4% | C− |
| 3,996 | Washington Township OH | 2,072 | $67K | 14.4% | 0.9% | 0% | C− |
| 3,997 | Shoshone ID | 1,767 | $69K | 10.7% | 8.6% | 10% | C− |
| 3,998 | Sac City IA | 1,993 | $57K | 18.2% | 2.5% | 27% | C− |
| 3,999 | Lacon Township IL | 2,284 | $69K | 13.4% | 6.8% | 14% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Shoshone, 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 Shoshone: questions
What is the median household income in Shoshone?
$69,392 (±$9,791) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shoshone?
10.7%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shoshone?
38 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shoshone work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Twin Falls (9%, 26 mi), Ketchum (9%, 52 mi), Hailey (7%, 40 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Shoshone walkable?
Shoshone is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shoshone without a car?
0% 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 Shoshone, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shoshone
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.