Photo: Z28scrambler · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Reserve (14.5%) is among the highest in the country
Household incomes here are lower than in 81% of U.S. towns. For jobs and income Reserve is better than 18% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (C). About one in ten stay in Reserve for work; outside it, Laplace is the main destination (12%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Reserve
The jobs in Reserve pay better than its residents’ jobs
75% of the jobs based in Reserve pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 50% of the jobs Reserve residents hold. 91% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Reserve. The jobs ↓
Few Reserve workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 8% across Louisiana. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
The figures behind Reserve’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Reserve’s grade up (ahead of 72% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Reserve could be anywhere from D to B−.
Goods, not services: 33% of the jobs in Reserve
4,143 jobs are based in Reserve.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Reserve, 2013 → 2023: 3,864 → 4,143. 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 Reserve’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Reserve takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Reserve workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,206 commuters (the 2% 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 Reserve for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,963 residents head out to work, 361 work right here, and 3,782 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,600 people are in Reserve on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.25 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 Reserve’s working residents head each day
Where Reserve clocks in
12% of workers
10% of workers
7% 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.
How far Reserve’s workers travel
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.
Reserve is a driving town
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,277 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). 4.4% of Reserve households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Reserve’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Reserve ranks: 2,586th of 2,983 U.S. towns of 5,500 to 10,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 181 | Addis LA | 7,679 | $108K | 3.2% | 1.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 934 | Harahan LA | 8,916 | $80K | 7.5% | 3.8% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 971 | Elmwood LA | 6,077 | $89K | 7.7% | 4.8% | 13% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,584 | Good Hope CA | 8,816 | $57K | 27.4% | 9.1% | 1% | C− |
| 2,585 | Waikoloa Village HI | 7,543 | $82K | 12.4% | 8.3% | 3% | C− |
| 2,586 | Reserve LA | 7,791 | $55K | 19.1% | 14.5% | 11% | C− |
| 2,587 | Ecorse MI | 8,893 | $40K | 29.4% | 8.2% | 5% | C− |
| 2,588 | Marion Township OH | 5,543 | $60K | 14.2% | 9.2% | 11% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,983 | 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 Reserve, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
Next door is work for 14% of Reserve
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Laplace. Darker towns draw more of Reserve’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 Reserve: questions
What is the median household income in Reserve?
$55,450 (±$9,533) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Reserve?
19.1%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Reserve?
23 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Reserve work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Laplace (12%, 5 mi), New Orleans (10%, 37 mi), Metairie (7%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Reserve walkable?
Reserve is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Reserve without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Reserve, from the people who make the trip.
More of Reserve
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.