Photo: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives · CC BY 4.0Pendleton draws more than half of Helix’s working residents
Commuters spend 35 minutes getting to work on average; Oregon averages 23, the U.S. 26. Working from home is the commute for 41% of workers, where Oregon as a whole has 19%. Hardly any work in Helix; the top destination outside it is Pendleton (55%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The workday shuffle in and out of Helix
On a workday 55 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 10 people come in from elsewhere.
About 150 people are in Helix on a workday afternoon, 23% fewer than live here.
0.18 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.
Where people from Helix work
Where Helix clocks in
55% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Helix
10 jobs are based in Helix.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Helix, 2013 → 2023: 7 → 10. 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 Helix’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 35 minutes to work from Helix
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Helix workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 154 commuters (the 41% 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.
How far it is to work from Helix
About 15% 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.
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 Helix: questions
What is the median household income in Helix?
$190,270 (±$137,022) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Helix?
8.3%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Helix?
35 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 41% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Helix work?
0% work in town.
Can you get around Helix without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Helix, from the people who make the trip.
More of Helix
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.