Photo: TheLionHasSeen · CC BY-SA 4.0Work means Shreveport for about two in five of Bossier City’s working residents
The trip to work takes 18 minutes on average, where Louisiana has 26 and the U.S. 26. Jobs and income earn Bossier City C; getting around on foot earns it B−. Measured by household income, Bossier City is behind 80% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Bossier City: the gist
Commutes from Bossier City are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 26 across Louisiana. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Louisiana worker. Time on the road ↓
Most Bossier City residents work close to home
66% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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.
Why Bossier City gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bossier City is better than 25% of U.S. towns, #85 of 161 in Louisiana. Job access by car holds Bossier City’s grade up (ahead of 76% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (20.8%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bossier City could be anywhere from C− to C+.
The places Bossier City commutes to
Where Bossier City clocks in
41% of workers
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.
From Bossier City, about 18 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bossier City workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 26,876 commuters (the 6% 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.
Bossier City’s commute, mile by mile
About 18% 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.
Bossier City by day and by night
On a workday 17,025 residents head out to work, 5,576 work right here, and 23,418 people come in from elsewhere.
About 70,000 people are in Bossier City on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 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.
Jobs in Bossier City: what the 28,994 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bossier City, 2014 → 2024: 30,577 → 28,994. 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 Bossier City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Bossier City gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bossier City is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns, #81 of 161 in Louisiana. Both inputs place Bossier City 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 28,606 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). 10.1% of Bossier City households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Bossier City’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Bossier City sits among U.S. towns of 44,000 to 85,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 569 | Kenner LA | 65,136 | $64K | 15.4% | 6.6% | 16% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 649 | Galveston TX | 53,636 | $56K | 21.4% | 5.8% | 47% | C |
| 650 | Passaic NJ | 71,337 | $55K | 22.9% | 12.5% | 13% | C |
| 651 | Bossier City LA | 63,259 | $56K | 20.8% | 6.5% | 25% | C |
| 652 | Joplin MO | 53,930 | $52K | 16.9% | 5.3% | 49% | C |
| 653 | Weslaco TX | 44,203 | $60K | 23.2% | 7.1% | 26% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 656 | Lake Charles LA | 82,676 | $59K | 23.3% | 6.6% | 53% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 707 | Monroe LA | 46,860 | $41K | 35.9% | 10.2% | 53% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 709 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 27% | 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 Bossier City, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
Bordering towns draw 41% of Bossier City’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bossier City workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bossier City | – | C | B− | 18 min | $55,819 |
| Red Chute | under 1% | B+ | D | 23 min | $86,124 |
| Shreveport | 41% | C− | B | 19 min | $48,699 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Shreveport. Darker towns draw more of Bossier City’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 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 Bossier City: questions
What is the median household income in Bossier City?
$55,819 (±$3,420) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bossier City?
20.8%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bossier City?
18 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bossier City work?
25% work in town.
Is Bossier City walkable?
Bossier City is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bossier City without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bossier City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bossier City
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.