Southdown Plantation · Photo: Z28scrambler · CC BY-SA 3.0At 5.0%, unemployment in Bayou Cane is higher than in 61% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Bayou Cane are C+ for jobs and income and B− for walkability. About one in five work in Bayou Cane itself; outside it, Thibodaux draws the most (5%, 12 miles). Commuters spend 23 minutes getting to work on average, next to 26 for Louisiana and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Bayou Cane, in brief
No single place dominates Bayou Cane’s commute
The biggest draw, Thibodaux, gets only 5% of working residents, and 61% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Bayou Cane residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Bayou Cane draws workers from far and wide
The 10,231 jobs in Bayou Cane are filled from a wide area. Bayou Cane’s own residents hold 13% and the ten next-biggest home towns 21%; the other 66% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Bayou Cane
56% of Bayou Cane residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 38% of the jobs based in Bayou Cane pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 82% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Bayou Cane’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bayou Cane is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #54 of 161 in Louisiana. Job access by car holds Bayou Cane’s grade up (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.0%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bayou Cane could be anywhere from C− to B.
Where Bayou Cane’s working residents head each day
Where Bayou Cane clocks in
5% of workers
2% 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.
Inside Bayou Cane’s 10,231 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bayou Cane, 2014 → 2024: 12,014 → 10,231. 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 Bayou Cane’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Bayou Cane for work, and who comes in
On a workday 6,160 residents head out to work, 1,363 work right here, and 8,868 people come in from elsewhere.
About 24,000 people are in Bayou Cane on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.36 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.
From Bayou Cane, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bayou Cane workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,183 commuters (the 4% 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.
How far Bayou Cane goes to work
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.
Few in Bayou Cane walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bayou Cane is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns, #79 of 161 in Louisiana. Both inputs place Bayou Cane 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 10,573 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). 4.6% of Bayou Cane households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bayou Cane’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Bayou Cane is 1,326th of 1,787 U.S. towns of 15,000 to 29,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 410 | Youngsville LA | 19,980 | $106K | 9.1% | 1.2% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 804 | Broussard LA | 15,799 | $116K | 13.4% | 3.6% | 11% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,120 | Zachary LA | 20,621 | $84K | 8.5% | 6.9% | 8% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,324 | Perry GA | 25,699 | $77K | 13.9% | 4.6% | 14% | C+ |
| 1,325 | Lindenwold NJ | 21,952 | $56K | 21.1% | 4.6% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,326 | Bayou Cane LA | 21,253 | $74K | 16.0% | 5.0% | 18% | C+ |
| 1,327 | Henderson KY | 27,822 | $48K | 18.7% | 2.4% | 33% | C+ |
| 1,328 | Long Beach MS | 17,309 | $70K | 11.5% | 6.1% | 12% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,787 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 Bayou Cane, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Bayou Cane: questions
What is the median household income in Bayou Cane?
$74,350 (±$6,233) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bayou Cane?
16.0%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bayou Cane?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bayou Cane work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Thibodaux (5%, 12 mi), Gray (4%, 4 mi), New Orleans (2%, 57 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Bayou Cane walkable?
Bayou Cane is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bayou Cane without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bayou Cane, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bayou Cane
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.