Photo: Billy Hathorn at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Vinton are lower than in 95% of U.S. towns
About one in seven stay in Vinton for work; outside it, Lake Charles is the main destination (21%, 22 miles). 32.7% of residents are in poverty, against 18.9% across Louisiana. For jobs and income Vinton is better than 23% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (B−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Vinton: the gist
Many jobs in Vinton pay little
34% of the jobs based in Vinton pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. Young workers hold many of them: 33% of all the jobs here go to people 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Vinton workers earn over $40,000 a year
38% of Vinton’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Vinton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Vinton is Lake Charles, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 21% of working residents (231) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Vinton: the grade in detail
Unemployment holds Vinton’s grade up (3.6%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Vinton could be anywhere from D to B−.
What work there is in Vinton: 375 jobs
375 jobs are based in Vinton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vinton, 2013 → 2023: 422 → 375. 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 Vinton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Vinton to work
About 24% 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.
How many people are in Vinton by day
On a workday 945 residents head out to work, 136 work right here, and 239 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,400 people are in Vinton on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
0.35 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 Vinton’s working residents head each day
Where Vinton clocks in
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.
Commuting from Vinton: about 27 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vinton workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,113 commuters (the 5% 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.
Most trips from Vinton start in a car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Louisiana, on an EPA index of 5.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,170 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). 5.6% of Vinton households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Vinton’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,479th of 4,562: where Vinton ranks among U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 281 | Hahnville LA | 3,520 | $101K | 6.7% | 0.0% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 467 | Des Allemands LA | 2,382 | $88K | 2.4% | 2.5% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 737 | South Vacherie LA | 2,954 | $81K | 3.7% | 1.6% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,477 | Williams AZ | 3,473 | $76K | 13.5% | 5.0% | 36% | C− |
| 3,478 | Attica IN | 3,290 | $69K | 16.6% | 5.5% | 21% | C− |
| 3,479 | Vinton LA | 3,115 | $42K | 32.7% | 3.6% | 13% | C− |
| 3,480 | Elizabethtown NC | 3,306 | $29K | 33.0% | 0.0% | 20% | C− |
| 3,481 | Moorefield WV | 2,655 | $49K | 8.1% | 5.3% | 42% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,562 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Vinton, 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 Vinton: questions
What is the median household income in Vinton?
$41,875 (±$9,156) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vinton?
32.7%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Vinton?
27 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vinton work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lake Charles (21%, 22 mi), Sulphur (11%, 14 mi), Baton Rouge (2%, 147 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vinton walkable?
Vinton is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vinton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Vinton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vinton
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.