Photo: Infrogmation of New Orleans · CC BY-SA 3.0Harvey has lower household incomes than 89% of U.S. towns
Harvey grades C− for jobs and income and A for walkability. 25.7% of residents live below the poverty line, where Louisiana as a whole has 18.9%. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 18.8 in New Orleans.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Harvey in brief
A lot of Harvey works one town over
40% of working residents work in a town that borders Harvey: New Orleans (30%), Gretna (5%) and Marrero (5%). Next door ↓
Most Harvey residents work close to home
69% 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 Harvey’s working residents have a job less than 6 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 29 minutes, longer than the Louisiana average of 26. Time on the road ↓
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 Harvey earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Harvey is better than 23% of U.S. towns, #93 of 161 in Louisiana. Job access by car holds Harvey’s grade up (ahead of 88% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Harvey could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Where in the region Harvey works
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.
A commute of about 29 minutes in Harvey
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harvey workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,157 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.
Who leaves Harvey for work, and who comes in
On a workday 6,946 residents head out to work, 651 work right here, and 10,527 people come in from elsewhere.
About 24,000 people are in Harvey on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.47 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
30% of working residents work in New Orleans
Where Harvey clocks in
30% of workers
9% of workers
5% 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.
What Harvey’s employers do
11,178 jobs are based in Harvey.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harvey, 2013 → 2023: 11,636 → 11,178. 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 Harvey’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Good to walk, short on transit: Harvey
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Harvey is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #10 of 161 in Louisiana. Both inputs place Harvey 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 9,551 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 41% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 12.3% of Harvey households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Harvey’s commuters take a bus or train.
Harvey next to U.S. towns of 15,000 to 28,000: 1,488th of 1,705 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 397 | Youngsville LA | 19,980 | $106K | 9.1% | 1.2% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 768 | Broussard LA | 15,799 | $116K | 13.4% | 3.6% | 12% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,069 | Zachary LA | 20,621 | $84K | 8.5% | 6.9% | 10% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,486 | Auburn NY | 25,947 | $51K | 19.5% | 4.9% | 33% | C− |
| 1,487 | Central Falls RI | 23,124 | $49K | 24.6% | 7.9% | 7% | C− |
| 1,488 | Harvey LA | 20,915 | $49K | 25.7% | 7.0% | 9% | C− |
| 1,489 | Hidalgo TX | 15,376 | $59K | 21.1% | 8.8% | 10% | C− |
| 1,490 | Tifton GA | 17,595 | $45K | 23.5% | 3.4% | 33% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,705 | 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 Harvey, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
The towns next door employ 40% of Harvey
The biggest share goes to New Orleans (30%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Harvey workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harvey | – | C− | A | 29 min | $48,774 |
| Gretna | 5% | C− | A | 25 min | $43,110 |
| Marrero | 5% | C− | B | 23 min | $41,402 |
| New Orleans | 30% | C | A+ | 23 min | $56,631 |
| Woodmere | under 3% | C+ | C+ | 29 min | $75,828 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Harvey’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 Harvey: questions
What is the median household income in Harvey?
$48,774 (±$7,420) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harvey?
25.7%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harvey?
29 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harvey work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are New Orleans (30%, 14 mi), Metairie (9%, 10 mi), Gretna (5%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Harvey walkable?
Harvey is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Harvey without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harvey, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harvey
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.