Photo: Sam Beebe · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Weiser are lower than in 93% of U.S. towns
4% of workers have no commute at all, next to 13% for Idaho as a whole. 20.5% of residents are in poverty (Idaho 10.6%). Jobs and income earn Weiser D; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Weiser: the gist
Commutes from Weiser 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 ↓
Few Weiser 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Weiser
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Weiser is better than 6% of U.S. towns, #58 of 59 in Idaho. Unemployment holds Weiser’s grade up (5.9%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($45,292, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Weiser could be anywhere from D− to C.
About 16 minutes each way for Weiser’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Weiser workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,089 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 workday shuffle in and out of Weiser
On a workday 1,457 residents head out to work, 653 work right here, and 1,164 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.
10% of working residents work in Ontario
Where Weiser clocks in
10% of workers
10% 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.
The 1,817 jobs based in Weiser
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Weiser, 2013 → 2023: 1,647 → 1,817. 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 Weiser’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Weiser to work
About 28% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Weiser
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Weiser is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #8 of 59 in Idaho. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.5% across Idaho, on an EPA index of 8.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,178 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). 7.8% of Weiser households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Weiser’s commuters take a bus or train.
Weiser next to U.S. towns of 4,400 to 8,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,267 | Rigby ID | 5,757 | $85K | 9.7% | 2.2% | 12% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,405 | Kimberly ID | 5,798 | $98K | 19.3% | 0.0% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,786 | Fruitland ID | 7,213 | $65K | 8.8% | 1.8% | 18% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,166 | Moses Lake North WA | 4,517 | $58K | 29.8% | 13.5% | 5% | D |
| 3,167 | Columbia MS | 6,525 | $39K | 24.5% | 8.3% | 37% | D |
| 3,168 | Weiser ID | 6,249 | $45K | 20.5% | 5.9% | 31% | D |
| 3,169 | Stuttgart AR | 7,525 | $49K | 23.1% | 10.5% | 60% | D |
| 3,170 | Honesdale PA | 4,417 | $47K | 19.8% | 9.8% | 24% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,297 | 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 Weiser, 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 Weiser: questions
What is the median household income in Weiser?
$45,292 (±$4,323) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Weiser?
20.5%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Weiser?
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 Weiser work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ontario (10%, 16 mi), Boise City (10%, 58 mi), Nampa (5%, 50 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Weiser walkable?
Weiser is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Weiser without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Weiser, from the people who make the trip.
More of Weiser
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.