Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes put Vivian near the very bottom of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 44.3% of residents, where Louisiana as a whole has 18.9%. Measured by household income, Vivian is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Vivian grades D− for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Vivian: the figures worth knowing
One in three of Vivian works in Shreveport
324 working residents, 33%, have their main job in Shreveport, 30 miles away. That’s twice as many as work in Vivian itself. The commute map ↓
Fewer than half of Vivian workers earn over $40,000 a year
39% of Vivian’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Vivian 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 972 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Vivian’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Vivian is better than 2% of U.S. towns, #152 of 161 in Louisiana. Job access by car holds Vivian’s grade up (ahead of 34% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($22,237, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Vivian could be anywhere from D− to D.
33% of working residents work in Shreveport
Where Vivian clocks in
33% of workers
8% 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 kinds of work in Vivian
666 jobs are based in Vivian.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vivian, 2013 → 2023: 809 → 666. 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 Vivian’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 34 minutes in Vivian
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vivian workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,159 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.
Who leaves Vivian for work, and who comes in
On a workday 812 residents head out to work, 160 work right here, and 506 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,600 people are in Vivian on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.69 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.
Vivian’s commute, mile by mile
About 18% 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.
Few in Vivian walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Vivian is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns, #136 of 161 in Louisiana. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.3% across Louisiana.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,189 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). 14.8% of Vivian households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Vivian’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Vivian sits among U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 282 | Hahnville LA | 3,520 | $101K | 6.7% | 0.0% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 296 | Montz LA | 2,074 | $92K | 4.7% | 0.2% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 472 | Des Allemands LA | 2,382 | $88K | 2.4% | 2.5% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,731 | Mullins SC | 3,838 | $35K | 38.3% | 10.1% | 11% | D− |
| 4,732 | Camden Township MI | 2,075 | $52K | 32.4% | 5.8% | 3% | D− |
| 4,733 | Vivian LA | 2,920 | $22K | 44.3% | 12.7% | 16% | D− |
| 4,734 | Kentwood LA | 2,217 | $31K | 35.3% | 8.1% | 11% | D− |
| 4,735 | Noel MO | 2,181 | $41K | 27.2% | 8.6% | 31% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Vivian, 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 Vivian: questions
What is the median household income in Vivian?
$22,237 (±$11,026) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vivian?
44.3%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Vivian?
34 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vivian work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Shreveport (33%, 30 mi), Bossier City (8%, 31 mi), Oil City (4%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vivian walkable?
Vivian is more walkable than 17% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vivian without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Vivian, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vivian
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.