Photo: Cary Bass · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Harbor earn less than those in 81% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Harbor D; getting around on foot earns it B−. Below the poverty line: 10.8% of residents; Oregon has 11.9%. For 3% of workers, the job is at home, next to 19% for Oregon as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Harbor: the figures worth knowing
Harbor and Brookings trade workers both ways
Brookings is the top workplace for Harbor residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Harbor come from (24% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
38% 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 ↓
Commutes from Harbor are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 23 across Oregon. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Oregon 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; with 717 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Harbor’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Harbor is better than 15% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Harbor’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 9% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.5%) is left out: Harbor’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Harbor could be anywhere from D− to C+.
28% of working residents work in Brookings
Where Harbor clocks in
28% of workers
4% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Harbor
About 38% 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.
Time on the road from Harbor: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Harbor workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 723 commuters (the 3% 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 commute in and out of Harbor
On a workday 589 residents head out to work, 128 work right here, and 861 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Harbor on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.38 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.
What work there is in Harbor: 989 jobs
989 jobs are based in Harbor.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Harbor, 2013 → 2023: 752 → 989. 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 Harbor’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most of Harbor commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Harbor is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% 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 742 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 47% 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 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 43% 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). 10.6% of Harbor households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Harbor’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Harbor is 4,246th of 5,207 U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 214 | Boring OR | 1,869 | $159K | 3.8% | 6.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 821 | Dundee OR | 3,193 | $107K | 3.3% | 4.2% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,244 | Rayne Township PA | 2,738 | $61K | 16.4% | 7.0% | 6% | D |
| 4,245 | Grissom AFB IN | 2,977 | $55K | 14.4% | 7.5% | 5% | D |
| 4,246 | Harbor OR | 2,437 | $55K | 10.8% | 3.5% | 18% | D |
| 4,247 | Bono AR | 2,858 | $56K | 17.1% | 10.8% | 3% | D |
| 4,248 | Arthur IL | 2,261 | $55K | 19.2% | 6.3% | 23% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | 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 Harbor, 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 Harbor: questions
What is the median household income in Harbor?
$55,109 (±$20,037) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Harbor?
10.8%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Harbor?
14 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Harbor work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Brookings (28%, 4 mi), Grants Pass (4%, 54 mi), Crescent City (3%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Harbor walkable?
Harbor is more walkable than 54% 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 Harbor without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Harbor, from the people who make the trip.
More of Harbor
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.