Photo: Richard Byrd · CC BY 2.0Households in Jennings earn less than those in 90% of U.S. towns
Jennings grades C− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Poverty touches 19.1% of residents, where Louisiana as a whole has 18.9%. About one in four work in Jennings; the top destination outside it is Lake Charles (11%, 33 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Jennings: the figures worth knowing
Jennings’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Jennings is Lake Charles, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (393) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer than half of Jennings workers earn over $40,000 a year
43% of Jennings’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Jennings workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 26 across Louisiana. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. 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.
Jobs & income in Jennings: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Jennings is better than 24% of U.S. towns, #88 of 161 in Louisiana. Unemployment holds Jennings’ grade up (4.0%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($48,558, U.S. $80,734).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Jennings could be anywhere from D to B−.
Half of Jennings commutes less than 33 miles
About 24% 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.
What Jennings’ employers do
4,505 jobs are based in Jennings.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Jennings, 2013 → 2023: 5,462 → 4,505. 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 Jennings’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 31 minutes from Jennings
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Jennings workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,552 commuters (the 3% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Jennings
On a workday 2,522 residents head out to work, 1,024 work right here, and 3,481 people come in from elsewhere.
About 10,000 people are in Jennings on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.27 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.
Where the trip to work from Jennings ends
Where Jennings clocks in
8% of workers
3% 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 of Jennings commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Jennings is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns, #86 of 161 in Louisiana. Both inputs place Jennings 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 3,648 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). 9.4% of Jennings households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Jennings’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,841 U.S. towns of 6,500 to 12,500, Jennings comes 2,331st 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 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 190 | Addis LA | 7,679 | $108K | 3.2% | 1.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 359 | Belle Chasse LA | 10,934 | $115K | 6.1% | 2.5% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 875 | Moss Bluff LA | 12,482 | $92K | 8.9% | 1.1% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,329 | Pleasant Township IN | 6,984 | $59K | 13.4% | 6.4% | 5% | C− |
| 2,330 | Verde Village AZ | 11,930 | $69K | 13.1% | 4.7% | 3% | C− |
| 2,331 | Jennings LA | 9,235 | $49K | 19.1% | 4.0% | 29% | C− |
| 2,332 | Garden City SC | 11,591 | $47K | 17.7% | 5.1% | 8% | C− |
| 2,333 | Ambridge PA | 6,944 | $52K | 15.5% | 9.4% | 8% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,841 | 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 Jennings, 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 Jennings: questions
What is the median household income in Jennings?
$48,558 (±$6,852) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Jennings?
19.1%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Jennings?
31 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Jennings work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lake Charles (11%, 33 mi), Lafayette (8%, 38 mi), Crowley (3%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Jennings walkable?
Jennings is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Jennings without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Jennings, from the people who make the trip.
More of Jennings
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.