Photo: Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Bandon (11.5%) than in 97% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.1 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 19.6 in Portland. Bandon grades D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 90% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Bandon apart on work
Commutes from Bandon are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 23 across Oregon. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical Oregon worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Bandon workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Bandon’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 17% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
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.
Where Bandon’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bandon is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #141 of 142 in Oregon. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Bandon’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bandon could be anywhere from D− to C−.
From Bandon, about 18 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bandon workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 886 commuters (the 14% 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.
Inside Bandon’s 1,384 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bandon, 2013 → 2023: 1,154 → 1,384. 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 Bandon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily commute in and out of Bandon
On a workday 715 residents head out to work, 345 work right here, and 1,039 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,600 people are in Bandon on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.31 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.
11% of working residents work in Coos Bay
Where Bandon clocks in
11% of workers
3% 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.
How many miles Bandon commutes
About 26% 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.
Bandon is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bandon is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #103 of 142 in Oregon. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 8.4% across Oregon.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,031 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 96% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 60% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 42% 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). 14.2% of Bandon households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bandon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Bandon sits among U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 238 | Hubbard OR | 3,399 | $102K | 3.6% | 1.6% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 376 | Millersburg OR | 3,583 | $125K | 5.1% | 1.5% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 807 | North Plains OR | 3,414 | $118K | 2.9% | 6.4% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,535 | McMillan Township MI | 2,387 | $45K | 25.6% | 9.5% | 34% | D− |
| 4,536 | Huntington Township OH | 2,526 | $49K | 33.3% | 9.5% | 2% | D− |
| 4,537 | Bandon OR | 3,297 | $48K | 26.3% | 11.5% | 33% | D− |
| 4,538 | Chinle AZ | 4,147 | $53K | 28.4% | 12.0% | 23% | D− |
| 4,539 | Horseshoe Bend AR | 2,623 | $46K | 26.2% | 10.1% | 9% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,593 | 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 Bandon, 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 Bandon: questions
What is the median household income in Bandon?
$48,187 (±$10,423) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bandon?
26.3%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bandon?
18 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bandon work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Coos Bay (11%, 21 mi), Coquille (3%, 12 mi), North Bend (3%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bandon walkable?
Bandon is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 14.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bandon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 60% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bandon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bandon
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.