Photo: Wikilester1999 · CC BY-SA 4.0Vienna Bend ranks among the lowest-earning U.S. towns by household income
Jobs and income earn Vienna Bend D−; getting around on foot earns it C−. Measured by household income, Vienna Bend is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. The poverty rate is 30.1% (Louisiana 18.9%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Vienna Bend stands out on work
Vienna Bend and Natchitoches trade workers both ways
Natchitoches is the top workplace for Vienna Bend residents (49%) and also where the most people who work in Vienna Bend come from (45% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Vienna Bend is a place people come home to
There are 11 jobs based in Vienna Bend, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Vienna Bend has about 940 people in it, 38% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Vienna Bend are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 26 across Louisiana. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Louisiana 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 575 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Vienna Bend: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Vienna Bend is better than 3% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Vienna Bend’s grade up (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($29,327, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (5.3%) is left out: Vienna Bend’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, Vienna Bend could be anywhere from D− to D.
49% of working residents work in Natchitoches
Where Vienna Bend clocks in
49% of workers
6% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Vienna Bend
On a workday 573 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 9 people come in from elsewhere.
About 940 people are in Vienna Bend on a workday afternoon, 38% fewer than live here.
0.02 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.
From Vienna Bend, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vienna Bend workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 618 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.
A place that makes things: 55% of Vienna Bend’s jobs are in goods
11 jobs are based in Vienna Bend.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vienna Bend, 2013 → 2023: 11 → 11. 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 Vienna Bend’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Vienna Bend’s commute, mile by mile
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.
Most of Vienna Bend commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Vienna Bend is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Vienna Bend 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 639 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). 0.7% of Vienna Bend households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Vienna Bend’s commuters take a bus or train.
Vienna Bend next to U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Bayou Gauche LA | 1,908 | $163K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 347 | Paulina LA | 1,785 | $89K | 2.1% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 530 | Sorrento LA | 1,622 | $118K | 8.5% | 3.2% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,105 | Gretna VA | 1,280 | $34K | 42.2% | 3.8% | 9% | D− |
| 5,106 | Concord Township OH | 1,390 | $45K | 20.9% | 0.0% | 1% | D− |
| 5,107 | Vienna Bend LA | 1,502 | $29K | 30.1% | 5.3% | <1% | D− |
| 5,108 | Hackleburg AL | 1,465 | $42K | 24.0% | 6.8% | 16% | D− |
| 5,109 | Ash Flat AR | 1,156 | $42K | 22.4% | 4.6% | 20% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,397 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Vienna Bend, 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 Vienna Bend: questions
What is the median household income in Vienna Bend?
$29,327 (±$14,564) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vienna Bend?
30.1%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Vienna Bend?
20 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vienna Bend work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Natchitoches (49%, 4 mi), Shreveport (6%, 67 mi), Alexandria (4%, 45 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vienna Bend walkable?
Vienna Bend is more walkable than 22% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vienna Bend without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Vienna Bend, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vienna Bend
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.