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Ransom County Courthouse 2008Photo: Andrew Filer · CC BY-SA 2.0
Jobs & commute in Lisbon

Lisbon has lower household incomes than 67% of U.S. towns

Jobs and income earn Lisbon D; getting around on foot earns it B+. Poverty touches 15.4% of residents; North Dakota has 10.8%. About one in three work in Lisbon; the top destination outside it is Gwinner (22%, 14 miles).

Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made

Jobs & income grade

Lisbon’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure

On income, poverty and job access, Lisbon is better than 12% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Lisbon’s grade up ($64,327, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 7% of U.S. towns).

Household income $64,327 (±$9,036) · ND $76,657 · U.S. $80,734Higher than 33% of U.S. towns
Poverty 15.4% · ND 10.8% · U.S. 12.5%Lower than 26% of U.S. towns
Job access by car EPA, jobs within a 45-minute driveMore than 7% of U.S. towns

Unemployment (3.5%) is left out: Lisbon’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.

D−C+

A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Lisbon could be anywhere from D− to C+.

How TownRatings grades jobs & income →

Day and night

Who commutes out of Lisbon, and who commutes in

On a workday 717 residents head out to work, 371 work right here, and 632 people come in from elsewhere.

717live here, work elsewhere
371live and work here
632work here, live elsewhere
Night and day
At night2,200
Workday2,100
2,200live here− 720head out to work+ 630come in to work= 2,100on a workday

About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.

Job hub or commuter town?
0.92jobs per workerCommuter townJob hub

About as many jobs as working residents (0.92 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.

The commute map

The towns that employ Lisbon’s residents

Enderlin: 20 residents work here (2%)Gwinner: 239 residents work here (22%)LisbonValley City: 40 residents work here (4%)Wahpeton: 12 residents work here (1%)West Fargo: 47 residents work here (4%)Bismarck: 17 residents work here (2%)Grand Forks: 15 residents work here (1%)Fargo: 112 residents work here (10%)Tuller TownshipIsland Park Township: 11 residents work here (1%)Moore TownshipBig Bend TownshipSydna TownshipGwinnerFargoWest FargoValley CityEnderlinBismarckLisbon
1
Lisbon (in town)right here
34%371
2
Gwinner14.4 mi away
22%239
3
Fargo50.1 mi away
10%112
4
West Fargo47 mi away
4%47
5
Valley City36.7 mi away
4%40
6
Enderlin13.3 mi away
2%20
7
Bismarck148.6 mi away
2%17
8
Grand Forks106.1 mi away
1%15
9
Wahpeton52.4 mi away
1%12
101%11
Everywhere elseother towns and states
19%204
The top trips

Where Lisbon clocks in

Lines 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 jobs

What work there is in Lisbon: 1,003 jobs

Jobs based in LisbonJobs Lisbon residents hold

What kind of work

Goods: factories, building, farms9%33%
Trade, transport & utilities13%14%
Services: health, schools, offices78%53%

What it pays

$1,250 a month or less22%16%
$1,251–$3,333 a month29%20%
Over $3,333 a month49%65%

Who does it

29 or younger26%23%
30 to 5449%56%
55 and older25%22%
−10%

Jobs based in Lisbon, 2013 → 2023: 1,110 → 1,003. 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 Lisbon’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Time on the road

From Lisbon, about 16 minutes to the job

A year of commuting
120 hours

Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.

Average commute minutes, one way

Lisbon16 min
North Dakota18 min
U.S.26 min
Working from home
8%

of Lisbon workers work from home, vs 8% across North Dakota. Their commute is the hallway.

About 1 in 10
How Lisbon gets to work
86%Drive alone
11%Carpool
3%Walk

Share of the 843 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across North Dakota: 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.

How far

How far Lisbon goes to work

10 mi25 mi50 mi80 miGwinner: 22% · 14.4 miFargo: 10% · 50.1 miWest Fargo: 4% · 47 miValley City: 4% · 36.7 miEnderlin: 2% · 13.3 miBismarck: 2% · 148.6 miGrand Forks: 1% · 106.1 miWahpeton: 1% · 52.4 miIsland Park Township: 1% · 3.1 miGwinner 22%Fargo 10%West Fargo 4%Valley City 4%Enderlin 2%Lisbon
LisbonTop destinations (size = commuters)
36%Under 10 mi387 residents
27%10–24 mi298 residents
17%25–50 mi181 residents
20%Over 50 mi222 residents

About 20% 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.

Getting around · Walkability grade

For most of Lisbon, work means a drive

On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lisbon is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Lisbon near the same point nationally.

EPA walkability index 8.5 of 20 · typical ND town 7.8 · U.S. 6.9Higher than 73% of U.S. towns
Walk, bike or transit 3.1% of commuters · ND 4.2% · U.S. 7.1%Higher than 60% of U.S. towns
B+B+

A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 911 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). 7.8% of Lisbon households have no vehicle (North Dakota 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lisbon’s commuters take a bus or train.

Towns its size

How Lisbon ranks: 4,464th of 5,404 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900

#TownPeopleHousehold incomePovertyUnemploymentWork in townGrade
1Kenilworth IL2,437$250K2.1%4.0%2%A+
2Chevy Chase Village MD1,978$250K1.2%2.6%3%A+
3Belle Meade TN2,621$250K1.4%0.3%2%A+
…
389Gibbs Township ND2,856$156K1.4%2.9%1%A
…
765Harrison Township ND1,734$122K5.1%5.2%3%A−
…
1,101Casselton ND2,485$73K7.1%0.9%19%B+
…
4,462Jasper Township IL1,723$64K15.3%2.7%3%D
4,463DeQuincy LA2,878$44K16.5%1.9%13%D
4,464Lisbon ND2,184$64K15.4%3.5%34%D
4,465Roseville OH1,751$45K13.5%2.7%2%D
4,466Rushville Township IL2,344$54K15.0%5.6%21%D
…
5,404Lame Deer MT1,872$24K55.8%42.2%60%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 Lisbon, the top three, the last and three more from North Dakota.

How to read these numbers

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.

How these figures and grades are made →

Jobs and commuting in Lisbon: questions

What is the median household income in Lisbon?

$64,327 (±$9,036) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,657 across North Dakota and $80,734 nationally.

What is the poverty rate in Lisbon?

15.4%, against 10.8% across North Dakota and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).

How long is the commute from Lisbon?

16 minutes each way on average, against 18 across North Dakota and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.

Where do people who live in Lisbon work?

34% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gwinner (22%, 14 mi), Fargo (10%, 50 mi), West Fargo (4%, 47 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).

Is Lisbon walkable?

Lisbon is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.

Can you get around Lisbon without a car?

0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.

Commuter talk

Getting to work from Lisbon, from the people who make the trip.

Town Square →
Ask neighbors
Beyond the commute

More of Lisbon

Lisbon home →

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.