Photo: Tamanoeconomico · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Wilder works elsewhere
Employers in Wilder report 250 jobs; 585 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Wilder D; getting around on foot earns it C+. Household incomes here are lower than in 81% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Wilder: the gist
Wilder and Caldwell trade workers both ways
Caldwell is the top workplace for Wilder residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Wilder come from (11% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Wilder 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 585 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Wilder’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Wilder is better than 13% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Wilder’s grade up (ahead of 45% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (30.2%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (0.4%) is left out: Wilder’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, Wilder could be anywhere from D to C−.
17% of working residents work in Caldwell
Where Wilder clocks in
17% of workers
14% of workers
12% 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 daily trip from Wilder: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wilder workers work from home, vs 13% across Idaho. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 839 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.
Who works in Wilder, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 570 residents head out to work, 15 work right here, and 235 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Wilder on a workday afternoon, 19% 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.
Jobs in Wilder: what the 250 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wilder, 2013 → 2023: 186 → 250. 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 Wilder’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Wilder to work
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.
Driving is how Wilder gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wilder is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 4.5% across Idaho.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 872 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.0% of Wilder households have no vehicle (Idaho 3.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wilder’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300, Wilder ranks 4,584th of 5,760 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 867 | Robie Creek ID | 1,213 | $106K | 2.5% | 3.2% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,196 | Groveland ID | 1,422 | $76K | 2.0% | 4.7% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,461 | Sun Valley ID | 1,776 | $126K | 6.0% | 0.0% | 25% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,582 | Bell Township PA | 1,956 | $57K | 16.7% | 1.3% | 2% | D |
| 4,583 | Cactus Flats AZ | 1,508 | $58K | 11.6% | 17.8% | <1% | D |
| 4,584 | Wilder ID | 1,734 | $55K | 30.2% | 0.4% | 3% | D |
| 4,585 | Jeffersonville OH | 1,246 | $46K | 36.0% | 3.4% | 5% | D |
| 4,586 | Waukomis OK | 1,324 | $61K | 18.4% | 1.2% | 3% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | 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 Wilder, 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 Wilder: questions
What is the median household income in Wilder?
$55,117 (±$9,363) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,800 across Idaho and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wilder?
30.2%, against 10.6% across Idaho and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wilder?
24 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Idaho and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wilder work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Caldwell (17%, 13 mi), Boise City (14%, 34 mi), Nampa (12%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wilder walkable?
Wilder is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wilder without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wilder, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wilder
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.