Sam Brown House · Photo: Andrew Parodi at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Gervais has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income B−: better than 45% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #75 of 142 in Oregon.
Walkability B: more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns · #117 of 142 in Oregon.
Household incomes here are higher than in 60% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 28 minutes each way (Oregon 23, U.S. 26). Only 3% work in Gervais; the top destination outside it is Woodburn (12%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Gervais, in brief
A young workforce
31% of Gervais’ working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
Gervais makes and builds things
36% of the jobs based in Gervais are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Gervais residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 39%. The jobs ↓
Gervais 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.
What’s behind Gervais’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Gervais is better than 45% of U.S. towns, #75 of 142 in Oregon. Job access by car holds Gervais’ grade up (ahead of 66% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (7.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gervais could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Gervais makes things: 36% of its jobs are in goods
436 jobs are based in Gervais. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Gervais’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gervais, 2013 → 2023: 338 → 436. 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.
About 28 minutes each way, longer than most of Oregon
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gervais workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,345 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Oregon: 80% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Gervais quiets down on a workday
On a workday 1,057 residents head out to work, 31 work right here, and 405 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Gervais on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
0.40 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.
12% of working residents work in Woodburn
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Gervais clocks in
12% of workers
11% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Half of Gervais commutes less than 14 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Most trips from Gervais start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gervais is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns, #117 of 142 in Oregon. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.4% 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 1,417 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, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.6 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). 1.5% of Gervais households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Gervais’ commuters take a bus or train.
Gervais is 2,532nd of 5,083 U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Gervais, the top three, the last and three more from Oregon.
| # | 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 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Dunthorpe OR | 1,875 | $250K | 1.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 215 | Hubbard OR | 3,399 | $102K | 3.6% | 1.6% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 218 | Boring OR | 1,869 | $159K | 3.8% | 6.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,530 | Burrell Township PA | 3,434 | $51K | 6.6% | 3.6% | 13% | B− |
| 2,531 | Nashville IL | 3,011 | $63K | 6.8% | 4.4% | 36% | B− |
| 2,532 | Gervais OR | 2,572 | $83K | 11.2% | 7.2% | 3% | B− |
| 2,533 | Mifflinburg PA | 3,436 | $67K | 4.6% | 6.4% | 18% | B− |
| 2,534 | Washington Township OH | 3,131 | $83K | 11.6% | 5.5% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 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.
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 Gervais: questions
What is the median household income in Gervais?
$83,043 (±$16,426) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gervais?
11.2%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gervais?
28 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gervais work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Woodburn (12%, 3 mi), Salem (11%, 14 mi), Portland (10%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gervais walkable?
Gervais is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 10.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gervais without a car?
0% 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 Gervais, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gervais
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.