Photo: Ken Lund · CC BY-SA 2.0Family incomes in Sugar City trail those of 63% of U.S. towns
The trip to work takes 20 minutes on average, where Idaho has 22 and the U.S. 26. Leaving out college students, 8.3% of residents live below the poverty line, against 9.8% across Idaho. Jobs and income earn Sugar City C+; getting around on foot earns it B+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Sugar City: the figures worth knowing
Sugar City and Rexburg trade workers both ways
Rexburg is the top workplace for Sugar City residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Sugar City come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Home offices are common in Sugar City
30% of Sugar City workers work from home, against 13% across Idaho. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 781 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Sugar City
On family income, poverty and job access, Sugar City is better than 44% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Sugar City’s grade up; family income pulls it down ($83,125, U.S. $99,999).
14% of Sugar City’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 (15% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 8.3%, against 8.7% for all residents. Unemployment (1.9%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($83,125), since student households pull the household median down ($66,953).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Sugar City could be anywhere from C− to B+.
30% of working residents work in Rexburg
Where Sugar City clocks in
30% of workers
14% 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.
How long Sugar City spends getting to work: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sugar City workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 717 commuters (the 30% 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.
Who leaves Sugar City for work, and who comes in
On a workday 685 residents head out to work, 96 work right here, and 570 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 (0.85 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Inside Sugar City’s 666 jobs
666 jobs are based in Sugar City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sugar City, 2014 → 2024: 724 → 666. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sugar City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Sugar City works
About 17% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Sugar City commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sugar City is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Sugar City 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 1,021 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). 1.6% of Sugar City households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sugar City’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Sugar City ranks: 2,615th of 5,207 U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 690 | Dalton Gardens ID | 2,496 | $80K | 4.6% | 1.1% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,319 | Iona ID | 3,179 | $85K | 12.2% | 1.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,324 | Filer ID | 3,026 | $65K | 5.1% | 0.7% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,613 | Madison NH | 2,728 | $103K | 4.7% | 7.3% | 9% | C+ |
| 2,614 | Ashville AL | 2,412 | $69K | 19.9% | 2.1% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,615 | Sugar City ID | 2,476 | $67K | 8.7% | 1.9% | 12% | C+ |
| 2,616 | Galena KS | 2,788 | $49K | 13.0% | 1.6% | 21% | C+ |
| 2,617 | Amherst VA | 2,146 | $71K | 9.1% | 0.0% | 15% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Sugar City, the top three, the last and three more from Idaho.
30% of Sugar City works in a bordering town
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sugar City workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar City | – | C+ | B+ | 20 min | $66,953 |
| Rexburg | 30% | D | A | 15 min | $50,617 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Rexburg. Darker towns draw more of Sugar City’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 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Students. 14% 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 Sugar City: questions
What is the median household income in Sugar City?
$66,953 (±$21,906) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sugar City?
8.7% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 8.3%. Idaho: 10.6%.
How long is the commute from Sugar City?
20 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 30% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sugar City work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rexburg (30%, 4 mi), Idaho Falls (14%, 30 mi), Boise City (3%, 224 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Sugar City walkable?
Sugar City is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sugar City 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 Sugar City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sugar City
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.