Photo: BroMcjoe · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Spencer works elsewhere
There are 10 jobs in Spencer, against 19 working residents. Hardly any work in Spencer itself; outside it, Dubois draws the most (26%, 14 miles). 6% of workers have no commute at all, against 13% across Idaho.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who works in Spencer, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 19 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 10 people come in from elsewhere.
About 20 people are in Spencer on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer than live here.
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 places Spencer commutes to
Where Spencer clocks in
11% of workers
5% 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.
Making and building: 80% of jobs based in Spencer
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Spencer, 2013 → 2023: 6 → 10. 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 Spencer’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Spencer
of Spencer workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16 commuters (the 6% 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.
How far Spencer goes to work
About 53% 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 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.
- Two counts of out-of-state work. The Census survey asks workers where they work: 0% of Spencer workers work outside Idaho. The job records count 26% at employers in other states. The records use the address the employer reports and skip the self-employed, so the two can differ.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Spencer: questions
What is the median household income in Spencer?
$74,219 (±$37,495) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Spencer?
5.3%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Spencer work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Dubois (26%, 14 mi), Bozeman (11%, 106 mi), Rexburg (5%, 42 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Spencer without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Spencer, from the people who make the trip.
More of Spencer
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.