Aurora Colony Historic District · Photo: M.O. Stevens · CC BY 3.0Households in Aurora have higher incomes than those in 82% of U.S. towns
6.1% of residents live below the poverty line; Oregon has 11.9%. For jobs and income Aurora is better than 88% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 24% of U.S. towns (C−). Only 1% work in Aurora; the top destination outside it is Portland (14%, 22 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Aurora at work: what stands out
Aurora’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Aurora is Portland, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (68) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Aurora makes and builds things
40% of the jobs based in Aurora are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Aurora residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 32%. The jobs ↓
Aurora workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 28 minutes each way, against 23 across Oregon. Over a year that’s about 215 hours of commuting, 38 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 502 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Aurora’s grade
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Aurora’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (2.1%) is left out: Aurora’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, Aurora could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Short hops and long hauls from Aurora
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.
Aurora works in goods: 40% of its jobs
490 jobs are based in Aurora.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Aurora, 2013 → 2023: 135 → 490. 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 Aurora’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Aurora: about 28 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Aurora workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 438 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across Oregon: 80% drive alone, 3% 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 Aurora
On a workday 496 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 484 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.98 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.
Where the trip to work from Aurora ends
Where Aurora clocks in
8% of workers
7% 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.
Driving is how Aurora gets around
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 516 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 60% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.7% of Aurora households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Aurora’s commuters take a bus or train.
Aurora next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500: 190th of 3,771 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 121 | Coburg OR | 1,373 | $98K | 1.5% | 8.9% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 188 | Millerton CA | 1,159 | $207K | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| 189 | Eaton Estates OH | 1,184 | $79K | 2.0% | 0.0% | 0% | A |
| 190 | Aurora OR | 1,113 | $108K | 6.1% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| 191 | Aztalan WI | 1,373 | $105K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A |
| 192 | Marion Township IN | 1,260 | $91K | 3.5% | 2.4% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 285 | Adair Village OR | 1,010 | $99K | 3.6% | 4.4% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 520 | Donald OR | 1,008 | $81K | 7.7% | 11.7% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Aurora, the top three, the last and three more from Oregon.
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 Aurora: questions
What is the median household income in Aurora?
$107,500 (±$19,602) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Aurora?
6.1%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Aurora?
28 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Aurora work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portland (14%, 22 mi), Woodburn (8%, 8 mi), Wilsonville (7%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Aurora walkable?
Aurora is more walkable than 24% 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 Aurora without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Aurora, from the people who make the trip.
More of Aurora
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.