Work means Idaho Falls for about half of Ucon’s working residents
Ucon grades A− for jobs and income and B for walkability. Only 1% work in Ucon itself; outside it, Idaho Falls draws the most (46%, 8 miles). The average commute takes 20 minutes each way, next to 22 for Idaho and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Ucon stands out on work
Nearly half of Ucon works in Idaho Falls
218 working residents, 46%, have their main job in Idaho Falls, 8.1 miles away. That’s 46 times as many as work in Ucon itself. The commute map ↓
Most Ucon residents work close to home
69% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Ucon makes and builds things
59% of the jobs based in Ucon are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Ucon residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 16%. 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; with 478 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Ucon
On income, poverty and job access, Ucon is better than 78% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input (4.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 53% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (1.4%) is left out: Ucon’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, Ucon could be anywhere from B− to A.
The places Ucon commutes to
Where Ucon clocks in
46% of workers
4% 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.
Ucon’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Goods, not services: 59% of the jobs in Ucon
411 jobs are based in Ucon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ucon, 2013 → 2023: 233 → 411. 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 Ucon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Ucon on a workday
On a workday 471 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 404 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 (0.86 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.
Getting to work from Ucon takes about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ucon workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 714 commuters (the 17% 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.
In Ucon, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ucon is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.5% across Idaho, on an EPA index of 6.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 860 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). 0.0% of Ucon households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Ucon’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Ucon is 478th of 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 476 | Massie Township OH | 1,260 | $83K | 4.5% | 0.7% | 1% | A− |
| 477 | North Heidelberg Township PA | 1,263 | $93K | 7.1% | 1.9% | 1% | A− |
| 478 | Ucon ID | 1,196 | $89K | 4.2% | 1.4% | 1% | A− |
| 479 | East Gull Lake MN | 1,184 | $123K | 3.6% | 2.7% | 4% | A− |
| 480 | Cleveland WI | 1,582 | $83K | 3.6% | 0.7% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 533 | Robie Creek ID | 1,213 | $106K | 2.5% | 3.2% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 772 | Groveland ID | 1,422 | $76K | 2.0% | 4.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 927 | Dover ID | 1,164 | $100K | 4.7% | 1.8% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Ucon, 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 Ucon: questions
What is the median household income in Ucon?
$89,079 (±$24,492) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ucon?
4.2%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ucon?
20 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ucon work?
1% work in town.
Is Ucon walkable?
Ucon is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ucon without a car?
4% 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 Ucon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ucon
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.