Photo: Z28scrambler · CC BY-SA 3.0Prairieville’s household incomes are higher than in 80% of U.S. towns
Only 7% work in Prairieville itself; outside it, Baton Rouge draws the most (26%, 14 miles). Poverty touches 4.6% of residents, against 18.9% across Louisiana. Prairieville grades A for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Prairieville, in a few figures
Prairieville draws workers from far and wide
The 9,340 jobs in Prairieville are filled from a wide area. Prairieville’s own residents hold 11% and the ten next-biggest home towns 25%; the other 64% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Prairieville workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 26 across Louisiana. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Prairieville makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Prairieville are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Prairieville residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 22%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Prairieville
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Prairieville is better than 93% of U.S. towns, #2 of 161 in Louisiana. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Prairieville’s grade. It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Prairieville could be anywhere from A− to A+.
The towns that employ Prairieville’s residents
Where Prairieville clocks in
26% 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.
From Prairieville, about 32 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Prairieville workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,657 commuters (the 9% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 36% of the jobs in Prairieville
9,340 jobs are based in Prairieville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Prairieville, 2014 → 2024: 7,133 → 9,340. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Prairieville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Prairieville on a workday afternoon
On a workday 14,578 residents head out to work, 1,053 work right here, and 8,287 people come in from elsewhere.
About 29,000 people are in Prairieville on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.60 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 2024, primary jobs.
How many miles Prairieville commutes
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Prairieville is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Prairieville is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns, #69 of 161 in Louisiana. Both inputs place Prairieville 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 18,294 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). 2.9% of Prairieville households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Prairieville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Prairieville is 141st of 1,219 U.S. towns of 25,000 to 48,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 139 | Summerlin South NV | 31,354 | $117K | 4.8% | 3.1% | 7% | A |
| 140 | Canton MA | 25,165 | $143K | 5.2% | 3.8% | 11% | A |
| 141 | Prairieville LA | 35,238 | $105K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 7% | A |
| 142 | Los Altos CA | 30,965 | $250K | 3.2% | 4.8% | 5% | A |
| 143 | Olive Branch MS | 47,563 | $101K | 4.6% | 2.4% | 18% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 268 | Central LA | 30,313 | $90K | 5.4% | 2.2% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 971 | Slidell LA | 28,341 | $70K | 15.7% | 5.8% | 17% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,021 | Laplace LA | 28,343 | $69K | 13.1% | 10.1% | 12% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,219 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Prairieville, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
14% of Prairieville works in a town next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Prairieville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prairieville | – | A | B | 32 min | $104,923 |
| St. George | 14% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to St. George. Darker towns draw more of Prairieville’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 2024, 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 Prairieville: questions
What is the median household income in Prairieville?
$104,923 (±$11,562) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Prairieville?
4.6%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Prairieville?
32 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Prairieville work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Baton Rouge (26%, 14 mi), St. George (14%, 6 mi), Donaldsonville (5%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Prairieville walkable?
Prairieville is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Prairieville without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Prairieville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Prairieville
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.