Photo: Chris Litherland · CC BY-SA 3.0Rayne has lower household incomes than 95% of U.S. towns
About one in ten work in Rayne; the top destination outside it is Lafayette (23%, 14 miles). 25.5% of residents are in poverty, against 18.9% across Louisiana. The two grades for Rayne are D for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Rayne: the figures worth knowing
Fewer than half of Rayne workers earn over $40,000 a year
42% of Rayne’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 19% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Rayne pay little
27% of the jobs based in Rayne pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
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.
Inside Rayne’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rayne is better than 14% of U.S. towns, #116 of 161 in Louisiana. Job access by car holds Rayne’s grade up (ahead of 66% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($42,151, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rayne could be anywhere from D to C.
What the 1,484 jobs in Rayne are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rayne, 2013 → 2023: 1,563 → 1,484. 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 Rayne’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Rayne, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 2,619 residents head out to work, 310 work right here, and 1,174 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,600 people are in Rayne on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
0.51 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.
Where the trip to work from Rayne ends
Where Rayne clocks in
23% of workers
11% of workers
4% 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.
About 28 minutes each way, longer than most of Louisiana
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rayne workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,687 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.
How far Rayne goes to work
About 25% 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.
Rayne is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rayne is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #30 of 161 in Louisiana. Both inputs place Rayne 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 2,766 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). 12.6% of Rayne households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rayne’s commuters take a bus or train.
Rayne next to U.S. towns of 4,900 to 9,400: 2,841st of 3,167 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 182 | Addis LA | 7,679 | $108K | 3.2% | 1.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 961 | Harahan LA | 8,916 | $80K | 7.5% | 3.8% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,001 | Elmwood LA | 6,077 | $89K | 7.7% | 4.8% | 13% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,839 | Mexia TX | 7,091 | $42K | 32.3% | 3.3% | 24% | D |
| 2,840 | Springfield VT | 8,881 | $67K | 14.8% | 8.2% | 32% | D |
| 2,841 | Rayne LA | 6,995 | $42K | 25.5% | 7.2% | 11% | D |
| 2,842 | Fellsmere FL | 5,025 | $56K | 18.8% | 7.8% | 12% | D |
| 2,843 | Chanute KS | 8,584 | $51K | 17.3% | 5.2% | 52% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,167 | 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 Rayne, 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 Rayne: questions
What is the median household income in Rayne?
$42,151 (±$5,870) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rayne?
25.5%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rayne?
28 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rayne work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lafayette (23%, 14 mi), Crowley (11%, 7 mi), Baton Rouge (4%, 69 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rayne walkable?
Rayne is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rayne without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rayne, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rayne
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.