Shady Grove School and Community Building · Photo: Z28scrambler · CC BY-SA 4.0At 10.1%, unemployment in DeRidder is higher than in 94% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, DeRidder is behind 74% of U.S. towns. The two grades for DeRidder are D for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. About one in three stay in DeRidder for work; outside it, Lake Charles is the main destination (6%, 45 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from DeRidder, in brief
DeRidder draws workers from far and wide
The 5,788 jobs in DeRidder are filled from a wide area. DeRidder’s own residents hold 21% and the ten next-biggest home towns 9%; the other 70% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
DeRidder is where the jobs are
DeRidder has 5,788 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
DeRidder’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, DeRidder is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #130 of 161 in Louisiana. Household income holds DeRidder’s grade up ($59,801, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, DeRidder stays D.
Commuting in to DeRidder: where workers come from
Where DeRidder clocks in
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.
Who leaves DeRidder for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,340 residents head out to work, 1,190 work right here, and 4,598 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in DeRidder on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
1.6 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.
How far DeRidder goes to work
About 31% 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.
Inside DeRidder’s 5,788 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in DeRidder, 2013 → 2023: 5,998 → 5,788. 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 DeRidder’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 24 minutes in DeRidder
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of DeRidder workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,751 commuters (the 5% 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.
Most trips from DeRidder start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, DeRidder is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns, #106 of 161 in Louisiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.3% across Louisiana.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,944 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). 8.3% of DeRidder households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of DeRidder’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 6,700 to 12,800, and where DeRidder sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 181 | Addis LA | 7,679 | $108K | 3.2% | 1.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 352 | Belle Chasse LA | 10,934 | $115K | 6.1% | 2.5% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 850 | Moss Bluff LA | 12,482 | $92K | 8.9% | 1.1% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,632 | Indiantown FL | 6,826 | $56K | 23.3% | 7.2% | 8% | D |
| 2,633 | Magalia CA | 7,389 | $57K | 11.8% | 10.3% | 7% | D |
| 2,634 | DeRidder LA | 9,503 | $60K | 19.1% | 10.1% | 34% | D |
| 2,635 | Madras OR | 7,829 | $65K | 17.7% | 10.4% | 35% | D |
| 2,636 | Pocahontas AR | 7,622 | $44K | 23.8% | 5.6% | 36% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,764 | 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 DeRidder, 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 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 DeRidder: questions
What is the median household income in DeRidder?
$59,801 (±$3,594) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in DeRidder?
19.1%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from DeRidder?
24 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in DeRidder work?
34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lake Charles (6%, 45 mi), Leesville (5%, 20 mi), Lafayette (2%, 87 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is DeRidder walkable?
DeRidder is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around DeRidder without a car?
<1% 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 DeRidder, from the people who make the trip.
More of DeRidder
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.