Gardere has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
For jobs and income Gardere is better than 32% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (B+). 1,207 jobs are based in Gardere, against 4,386 working residents. 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 Gardere: the gist
Gardere and Baton Rouge trade workers both ways
Baton Rouge is the top workplace for Gardere residents (41%) and also where the most people who work in Gardere come from (24% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most Gardere 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 ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Gardere’s working residents have a job less than 7 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 28 minutes, longer than the Louisiana average of 26. Time on the road ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
37% of the jobs based in Gardere are held by workers 29 or younger, against 32% of Gardere’s own working residents. The jobs ↓
Gardere is a place people come home to
There are 1,207 jobs based in Gardere, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Gardere has about 9,000 people in it, 26% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Gardere: the grade in detail
Job access by car holds Gardere’s grade up (ahead of 87% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (35.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gardere could be anywhere from C− to B−.
41% of working residents work in Baton Rouge
Where Gardere clocks in
41% of workers
4% 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.
Half of Gardere commutes less than 7 miles
About 19% 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.
How long Gardere spends getting to work: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gardere workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,231 commuters (the 10% 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 jobs in Gardere are in services
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gardere, 2013 → 2023: 1,173 → 1,207. 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 Gardere’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Gardere for work, and who comes in
On a workday 4,331 residents head out to work, 55 work right here, and 1,152 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,000 people are in Gardere on a workday afternoon, 26% 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.
In Gardere, most people drive to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Louisiana, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,830 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). 15.3% of Gardere households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Gardere’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,354 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000, Gardere comes 1,819th on jobs and income
| # | 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 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 326 | Belle Chasse LA | 10,934 | $115K | 6.1% | 2.5% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 672 | Mandeville LA | 12,918 | $94K | 7.1% | 2.9% | 16% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 790 | Moss Bluff LA | 12,482 | $92K | 8.9% | 1.1% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,817 | Cheney WA | 12,650 | $55K | 31.3% | 13.1% | 17% | C |
| 1,818 | Middle Smithfield Township PA | 15,964 | $88K | 10.3% | 7.6% | 6% | C |
| 1,819 | Gardere LA | 12,223 | $55K | 35.3% | 4.9% | 1% | C |
| 1,820 | Shively KY | 15,895 | $50K | 14.7% | 6.9% | 3% | C |
| 1,821 | Richmond TX | 13,389 | $50K | 15.7% | 7.0% | 3% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Gardere, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
The towns next door employ 41% of Gardere
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gardere workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gardere | – | C | B+ | 28 min | $55,409 |
| Baton Rouge | 41% | C− | A− | 21 min | $49,994 |
| St. George | under 1% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Baton Rouge. Darker towns draw more of Gardere’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 Gardere: questions
What is the median household income in Gardere?
$55,409 (±$7,027) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gardere?
35.3%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gardere?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gardere work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Baton Rouge (41%, 6 mi), New Orleans (4%, 75 mi), Lafayette (2%, 54 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gardere walkable?
Gardere is more walkable than 69% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gardere without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gardere, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gardere
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.