Parlange Plantation House · Photo: Richard Koch, Photographer · Public domainWork, pay and getting to work in Ventress
A typical one-way commute lasts 34 minutes; Louisiana averages 26, the U.S. 26. The two grades for Ventress are B− for jobs and income and D− for walkability. Hardly any stay in Ventress for work; outside it, Baton Rouge is the main destination (22%, 24 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Ventress stands out on work
Ventress’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Ventress is Baton Rouge, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 22% of working residents (75) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Ventress workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 26 across Louisiana. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 61 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; with 338 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Ventress’ grade
On income, poverty and job access, Ventress is better than 48% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Ventress’ grade.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Ventress’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Ventress could be anywhere from C− to A.
Ventress’ commute, mile by mile
About 16% 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.
Each way, about 34 minutes from Ventress
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ventress workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 344 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 commute in and out of Ventress
On a workday 335 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 245 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
0.73 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.
The places Ventress commutes to
Where Ventress clocks in
22% of workers
18% of workers
2% 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 Ventress, 94% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
248 jobs are based in Ventress.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ventress, 2013 → 2023: 4 → 248. 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 Ventress’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Ventress, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ventress is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Ventress 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 354 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). 23.0% of Ventress households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ventress’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ventress is 1,532nd of 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 489 | Lockport Heights LA | 1,481 | $126K | 7.5% | 0.0% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 707 | Mathews LA | 1,598 | $87K | 6.0% | 1.6% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,056 | Perry LA | 1,424 | $82K | 9.5% | 1.3% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,530 | Susquehanna Township PA | 1,199 | $71K | 3.5% | 4.7% | 6% | B− |
| 1,531 | Cavendish VT | 1,373 | $89K | 6.3% | 3.7% | 10% | B− |
| 1,532 | Ventress LA | 1,166 | $71K | 9.2% | 0.0% | 1% | B− |
| 1,533 | Heth Township IN | 1,197 | $86K | 10.5% | 0.0% | 3% | B− |
| 1,534 | Nicholson Township PA | 1,245 | $73K | 6.4% | 1.3% | 1% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 Ventress, 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 Ventress: questions
What is the median household income in Ventress?
$71,458 (±$29,949) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ventress?
9.2%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ventress?
34 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ventress work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Baton Rouge (22%, 24 mi), New Roads (18%, 2 mi), Lafayette (2%, 48 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ventress walkable?
Ventress is near the bottom of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 2.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ventress without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 23% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ventress, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ventress
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.