Photo: Tedder · CC BY 3.0Most of Irrigon commutes out: there are 0.3 jobs for every working resident
1% of workers work from home (Oregon 19%). Irrigon has 234 jobs; 799 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Irrigon is better than 27% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Irrigon apart on work
Irrigon and Hermiston trade workers both ways
Hermiston is the top workplace for Irrigon residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in Irrigon come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Irrigon than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Irrigon fell from 454 in 2013 to 234 in 2023, −48%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Irrigon is a place people come home to
There are 234 jobs based in Irrigon, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Irrigon has about 1,500 people in it, 28% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 799 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Irrigon’s grade explained
Household income holds Irrigon’s grade up ($74,336, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 15% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (4.6%) is left out: Irrigon’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Irrigon could be anywhere from D to B−.
15% of working residents work in Hermiston
Where Irrigon clocks in
15% of workers
11% 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.
67% of the jobs in Irrigon pay over $3,333 a month
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Irrigon, 2013 → 2023: 454 → 234. 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 Irrigon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Irrigon by day and by night
On a workday 776 residents head out to work, 23 work right here, and 211 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Irrigon on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Irrigon’s commute takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Irrigon workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 867 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.
Miles to work from Irrigon
About 31% 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.
Irrigon is easy on foot, hard by bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 873 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 90% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 90% 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). 0.4% of Irrigon households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Irrigon’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Irrigon ranks: 3,815th of 5,793 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,800
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Dunthorpe OR | 1,875 | $250K | 1.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 214 | Boring OR | 1,869 | $159K | 3.8% | 6.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 257 | Stafford OR | 1,600 | $163K | 6.9% | 5.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,813 | Elberta AL | 2,183 | $55K | 21.4% | 1.9% | 4% | C |
| 3,814 | Willamina OR | 2,276 | $59K | 6.8% | 5.7% | 4% | C |
| 3,815 | Irrigon OR | 2,042 | $74K | 12.2% | 4.6% | 3% | C |
| 3,816 | Greenville NH | 2,029 | $72K | 13.7% | 7.7% | 3% | C |
| 3,817 | Vermontville Township MI | 1,961 | $70K | 14.8% | 2.6% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,793 | 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 Irrigon, 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 Irrigon: questions
What is the median household income in Irrigon?
$74,336 (±$10,741) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Irrigon?
12.2%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Irrigon?
26 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Irrigon work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hermiston (15%, 11 mi), Boardman (11%, 11 mi), Portland (6%, 154 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Irrigon walkable?
Irrigon is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.9 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Irrigon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and <1% of households have no car. 90% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Irrigon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Irrigon
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.