Photo: Yurivict at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Gold Beach has higher unemployment (6.9%) than 82% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.3 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 19.6 in Portland. Jobs and income earn Gold Beach D; getting around on foot earns it A−. Measured by household income, Gold Beach is behind 80% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Gold Beach
Gold Beach’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Gold Beach is Brookings, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (92) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Gold Beach are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 23 across Oregon. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Oregon worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 736 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Gold Beach
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Gold Beach is better than 10% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Gold Beach’s grade up (12.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gold Beach could be anywhere from D− to B−.
How far Gold Beach’s workers travel
About 34% 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.
How long Gold Beach spends getting to work: about 13 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gold Beach workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 782 commuters (the 21% 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.
Gold Beach by day and by night
On a workday 445 residents head out to work, 291 work right here, and 797 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,600 people are in Gold Beach on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.48 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.
13% of working residents work in Brookings
Where Gold Beach clocks in
13% of workers
3% 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.
What the 1,088 jobs in Gold Beach are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gold Beach, 2013 → 2023: 983 → 1,088. 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 Gold Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Gold Beach, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gold Beach is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.4% across Oregon, on an EPA index of 7.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 991 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 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 47% 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). 3.7% of Gold Beach households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Gold Beach’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Gold Beach ranks: 4,369th of 5,102 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Dunthorpe OR | 1,875 | $250K | 1.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 193 | Boring OR | 1,869 | $159K | 3.8% | 6.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 237 | Stafford OR | 1,600 | $163K | 6.9% | 5.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,367 | Sesser IL | 1,888 | $53K | 19.6% | 5.8% | 4% | D |
| 4,368 | Owingsville KY | 1,612 | $40K | 17.8% | 2.5% | 15% | D |
| 4,369 | Gold Beach OR | 2,257 | $56K | 12.2% | 6.9% | 40% | D |
| 4,370 | Patton PA | 1,656 | $48K | 21.8% | 4.8% | 5% | D |
| 4,371 | Wellsburg WV | 2,255 | $43K | 20.3% | 13.3% | 14% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,102 | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Gold Beach, the top three, the last and three more from Oregon.
The towns around Gold Beach
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gold Beach workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold Beach | – | D | A− | 13 min | $56,014 |
| Wedderburn | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Wedderburn: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Gold Beach’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Gold Beach: questions
What is the median household income in Gold Beach?
$56,014 (±$21,847) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gold Beach?
12.2%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gold Beach?
13 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gold Beach work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Brookings (13%, 24 mi), Medford (3%, 80 mi), Coos Bay (3%, 68 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gold Beach walkable?
Gold Beach is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gold Beach without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gold Beach, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gold Beach
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.