Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0At 1.4%, unemployment in Boardman is lower than in 91% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Boardman are C+ for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. <1% of workers work from home (Oregon 19%). About one in four work in Boardman itself; outside it, Hermiston draws the most (5%, 20 miles). Household incomes here are lower than in 63% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Boardman apart on work
Boardman has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Boardman went from 1,368 in 2013 to 2,422 in 2023, +77%. The jobs ↓
Few Boardman workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 19% across Oregon. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Boardman makes and builds things
44% of the jobs based in Boardman are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Boardman residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 44%. The jobs ↓
Most jobs in Boardman pay over $40,000 a year
74% of the jobs based in Boardman pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Boardman 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind Boardman’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Boardman is better than 37% of U.S. towns, #91 of 142 in Oregon. Unemployment holds Boardman’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 16% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Boardman could be anywhere from D to B.
Boardman makes things: 44% of its jobs are in goods
2,422 jobs are based in Boardman.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Boardman, 2013 → 2023: 1,368 → 2,422. 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 Boardman’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Boardman’s commute takes about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Boardman workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,021 commuters (the <1% 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 flow of workers through Boardman
On a workday 1,159 residents head out to work, 489 work right here, and 1,933 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,300 people are in Boardman on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.47 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 towns that employ Boardman’s residents
Where Boardman clocks in
5% of workers
2% 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 far Boardman’s workers travel
About 24% 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.
Driving is how Boardman gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Boardman is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns, #106 of 142 in Oregon. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.4% across Oregon, on an EPA index of 6.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,025 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 7.2% of Boardman households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Boardman’s commuters take a bus or train.
Boardman next to U.S. towns of 3,100 to 6,100: 2,676th of 4,088 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 238 | Hubbard OR | 3,399 | $102K | 3.6% | 1.6% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 341 | Beavercreek OR | 4,894 | $135K | 4.9% | 2.4% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 385 | Millersburg OR | 3,583 | $125K | 5.1% | 1.5% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,674 | Perry OK | 4,448 | $54K | 13.1% | 1.4% | 44% | C+ |
| 2,675 | Kenedy TX | 3,305 | $61K | 16.3% | 0.5% | 13% | C+ |
| 2,676 | Boardman OR | 4,495 | $67K | 17.1% | 1.4% | 30% | C+ |
| 2,677 | Ira Township MI | 5,104 | $70K | 11.9% | 7.5% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,678 | Ellery NY | 4,053 | $87K | 9.2% | 6.7% | 10% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,088 | 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 Boardman, 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 Boardman: questions
What is the median household income in Boardman?
$66,691 (±$19,768) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Boardman?
17.1%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Boardman?
28 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. <1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Boardman work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hermiston (5%, 20 mi), Portland (5%, 144 mi), Pendleton (2%, 44 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Boardman walkable?
Boardman is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Boardman without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Boardman, from the people who make the trip.
More of Boardman
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.