Photo: Billy Hathorn at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Oberlin’s household incomes are among the lowest in the country
Jobs and income earn Oberlin D−; getting around on foot earns it D. Household incomes here are among the lowest in the country. Poverty touches 22.1% of residents, next to 18.9% for Louisiana as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Oberlin apart on work
Oberlin is where the jobs are
Oberlin has 948 jobs, 2.1 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Oberlin’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Oberlin is Lake Charles, 38 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (37) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% 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; with 449 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Oberlin’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Oberlin is better than 3% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Oberlin’s grade up (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($31,738, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.1%) is left out: Oberlin’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Oberlin could be anywhere from D− to D.
Oberlin by day and by night
On a workday 395 residents head out to work, 54 work right here, and 894 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Oberlin on a workday afternoon, 39% more than live here.
2.1 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.
Oberlin’s commute, mile by mile
About 34% 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 travels to work in Oberlin, and from where
Where Oberlin 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.
In Oberlin, services account for most jobs
948 jobs are based in Oberlin.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oberlin, 2013 → 2023: 1,126 → 948. 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 Oberlin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Oberlin spends getting to work: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oberlin workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 589 commuters (the 0% 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.
Getting around Oberlin: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oberlin is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Oberlin 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 589 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). 18.5% of Oberlin households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oberlin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Oberlin sits among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 434 | Sorrento LA | 1,622 | $118K | 8.5% | 3.2% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 557 | Lockport Heights LA | 1,481 | $126K | 7.5% | 0.0% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 803 | Mathews LA | 1,598 | $87K | 6.0% | 1.6% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,528 | Gold Hill Township IL | 1,345 | $50K | 18.8% | 3.9% | 8% | D− |
| 4,529 | Rocky Boy West MT | 1,007 | $63K | 36.1% | 9.7% | 12% | D− |
| 4,530 | Oberlin LA | 1,286 | $32K | 22.1% | 3.1% | 12% | D− |
| 4,531 | Reading MI | 1,084 | $49K | 24.6% | 6.1% | 3% | D− |
| 4,532 | California Township MI | 1,190 | $47K | 40.7% | 3.2% | <1% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Oberlin, 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 Oberlin: questions
What is the median household income in Oberlin?
$31,738 (±$7,783) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oberlin?
22.1%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oberlin?
19 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oberlin work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lake Charles (8%, 38 mi), Oakdale (8%, 16 mi), Alexandria (3%, 51 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oberlin walkable?
Oberlin is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oberlin without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oberlin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oberlin
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.