Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Grambling (5.3%) than in 65% of U.S. towns
For 25% of workers, the job is at home, where Louisiana as a whole has 8%. Grambling grades C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. A typical one-way commute lasts 20 minutes (Louisiana 26, U.S. 26).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Grambling, in a few figures
Home offices are common in Grambling
25% of Grambling workers work from home, against 8% across Louisiana. Time on the road ↓
Grambling and Ruston trade workers both ways
Ruston is the top workplace for Grambling residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Grambling come from (28% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer than half of Grambling workers earn over $40,000 a year
38% of Grambling’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 23% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Grambling are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 26 across Louisiana. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Louisiana worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Grambling
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Grambling is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #104 of 161 in Louisiana. Job access by car holds Grambling’s grade up (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (52.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Grambling could be anywhere from D to B−.
The daily trip from Grambling: about 20 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Grambling workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,148 commuters (the 25% 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.
32% of working residents work in Ruston
Where Grambling clocks in
32% of workers
6% of workers
6% 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.
Most jobs in Grambling are in services
801 jobs are based in Grambling.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Grambling, 2013 → 2023: 958 → 801. 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 Grambling’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Grambling’s workers travel
About 32% 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 1,060 residents head out to work, 116 work right here, and 685 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
0.68 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
In Grambling, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Grambling is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #60 of 161 in Louisiana. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Louisiana, on an EPA index of 5.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,522 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). 31.2% of Grambling households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Grambling’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Grambling ranks: 3,082nd of 3,651 U.S. towns of 3,700 to 7,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,070 | Elmwood LA | 6,077 | $89K | 7.7% | 4.8% | 13% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,334 | Westlake LA | 4,763 | $68K | 12.1% | 0.0% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,356 | Red Chute LA | 6,526 | $86K | 7.5% | 4.1% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,080 | Comanche TX | 4,420 | $52K | 25.9% | 2.8% | 26% | C− |
| 3,081 | Avondale LA | 4,608 | $49K | 30.9% | 8.6% | 2% | C− |
| 3,082 | Grambling LA | 5,314 | — | 52.4% | 5.3% | 10% | C− |
| 3,083 | Davison MI | 5,039 | $49K | 16.1% | 10.3% | 7% | C− |
| 3,084 | Caldwell TX | 4,970 | $61K | 21.2% | 5.8% | 17% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,651 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Grambling, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
The towns next door employ 32% of Grambling
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Ruston. Darker towns draw more of Grambling’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 Grambling: questions
What is the poverty rate in Grambling?
52.4%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Grambling?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 25% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Grambling work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ruston (32%, 4 mi), Monroe (6%, 37 mi), Shreveport (6%, 63 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Grambling walkable?
Grambling is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Grambling without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 31% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Grambling, from the people who make the trip.
More of Grambling
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.