Photo: Spatms · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Baton Rouge (9.2%) is higher than in 92% of U.S. towns
About half work in Baton Rouge; the top destination outside it is New Orleans (3%, 76 miles). For jobs and income Baton Rouge is better than 20% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (A−). Household incomes here are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge is where the jobs are
Baton Rouge has 156,296 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Baton Rouge draws workers from far and wide
The 156,296 jobs in Baton Rouge are filled from a wide area. Baton Rouge’s own residents hold 25% and the ten next-biggest home towns 15%; the other 60% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Baton Rouge are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 26 across Louisiana. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Louisiana worker. 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Baton Rouge
Job access by car holds Baton Rouge’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (25.7%, U.S. 12.5%).
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Baton Rouge stays C−.
Who leaves Baton Rouge for work, and who comes in
On a workday 41,257 residents head out to work, 38,659 work right here, and 117,637 people come in from elsewhere.
About 299,000 people are in Baton Rouge on a workday afternoon, 34% more than live here.
2.0 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Baton Rouge’s workforce comes from
Where Baton Rouge clocks in
3% of workers
2% of workers
1% 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.
From Baton Rouge, about 21 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Baton Rouge workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 89,442 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Louisiana: 85% 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.
Inside Baton Rouge’s 156,296 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Baton Rouge, 2013 → 2023: 161,475 → 156,296. 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 Baton Rouge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Baton Rouge
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 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: Baton Rouge
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Louisiana, on an EPA index of 7.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 97,424 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). 12.0% of Baton Rouge households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Baton Rouge’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
How Baton Rouge compares with U.S. towns of 156,000 to 301,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| 3 | Huntington NY | 205,891 | $168K | 5.0% | 4.3% | 23% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | Killeen TX | 161,883 | $61K | 17.4% | 9.7% | 22% | C− |
| 109 | Toledo OH | 263,423 | $50K | 24.3% | 7.7% | 44% | C− |
| 110 | Baton Rouge LA | 222,795 | $50K | 25.7% | 9.2% | 48% | C− |
| 111 | Shreveport LA | 175,902 | $49K | 23.5% | 9.0% | 61% | C− |
| 112 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Baton Rouge, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
Baton Rouge and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Baton Rouge workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baton Rouge | – | C− | A− | 21 min | $49,994 |
| St. George | under 1% | — | — | — | — |
| Merrydale | under 1% | D | C | 27 min | $41,500 |
| Gardere | under 1% | C | B+ | 28 min | $55,409 |
| Monticello | under 1% | B | C− | 31 min | $70,441 |
| Brownfields | under 1% | C− | D− | 27 min | $65,929 |
| Port Allen | under 1% | C | B+ | 19 min | $59,474 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Baton Rouge’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 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 Baton Rouge: questions
What is the median household income in Baton Rouge?
$49,994 (±$2,546) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Baton Rouge?
25.7%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Baton Rouge?
21 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Baton Rouge work?
48% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New Orleans (3%, 76 mi), Lafayette (2%, 56 mi), Metairie (1%, 65 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Baton Rouge walkable?
Baton Rouge is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Baton Rouge without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Baton Rouge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Baton Rouge
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.