Photo: Tedder · CC BY 3.0More people are out of work in Banks (8.2%) than in 89% of U.S. towns
Commuters spend 26 minutes getting to work on average; the Oregon average is 23, the U.S. 26. Banks grades B− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Only 5% stay in Banks for work; outside it, Hillsboro is the main destination (25%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Banks, in brief
The figures behind Banks’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Banks is better than 47% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Banks’ grade up (ahead of 64% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Banks could be anywhere from C to A.
The places Banks commutes to
Where Banks clocks in
25% of workers
6% 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 people are in Banks by day
On a workday 845 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 453 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Banks on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
0.56 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.
Banks works in goods: 34% of its jobs
497 jobs are based in Banks.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Banks, 2013 → 2023: 475 → 497. 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 Banks’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Banks: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Banks workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 910 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.
Half of Banks commutes less than 15 miles
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.
In Banks, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Banks is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.4% across Oregon, on an EPA index of 6.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,061 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 1.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 65% 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). 1.8% of Banks households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Banks’ commuters take a bus or train.
Banks next to U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500: 2,360th of 5,656 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Dunthorpe OR | 1,875 | $250K | 1.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 201 | Boring OR | 1,869 | $159K | 3.8% | 6.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 238 | Stafford OR | 1,600 | $163K | 6.9% | 5.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,358 | Stiles WI | 1,553 | $81K | 10.6% | 0.5% | 2% | B− |
| 2,359 | Bellevue IL | 1,888 | $61K | 11.6% | 6.7% | 1% | B− |
| 2,360 | Banks OR | 1,821 | $86K | 9.3% | 8.2% | 5% | B− |
| 2,361 | Martinsburg PA | 1,811 | $71K | 8.5% | 2.7% | 10% | B− |
| 2,362 | Westport WA | 2,372 | $65K | 7.3% | 1.7% | 33% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Banks, 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 Banks: questions
What is the median household income in Banks?
$86,087 (±$11,943) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Banks?
9.3%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Banks?
26 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Banks work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hillsboro (25%, 10 mi), Portland (16%, 23 mi), Beaverton (6%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Banks walkable?
Banks is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Banks without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Banks, from the people who make the trip.
More of Banks
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.