Photo: Drown Soda · CC BY-SA 4.0La Grande’s household incomes are lower than in 76% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 20.9% of residents, next to 11.9% across Oregon. Jobs and income earn La Grande D; getting around on foot earns it A+. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 3.2 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 19.6 in Portland.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from La Grande, in brief
Where La Grande’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, La Grande is better than 11% of U.S. towns, #130 of 142 in Oregon. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides La Grande’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, La Grande could be anywhere from D to C.
Each way, about 13 minutes from La Grande
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of La Grande workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,603 commuters (the 7% 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.
A workday in La Grande: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 2,639 residents head out to work, 2,515 work right here, and 3,338 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.14 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where La Grande goes to work
Where La Grande clocks in
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.
What the 5,853 jobs in La Grande are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in La Grande, 2014 → 2024: 6,081 → 5,853. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs La Grande’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from La Grande
About 23% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
La Grande is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, La Grande is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns, #11 of 142 in Oregon. Both inputs place La Grande near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,009 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 88% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 32% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 76% 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). 11.1% of La Grande households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of La Grande’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000, and where La Grande sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 160 | Bull Mountain OR | 9,865 | $165K | 4.7% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 194 | Oak Hills OR | 11,131 | $127K | 3.4% | 3.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 389 | Damascus OR | 11,437 | $123K | 3.2% | 3.6% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,374 | Ogdensburg NY | 9,123 | $62K | 16.1% | 8.4% | 39% | D |
| 2,375 | Ontario OR | 11,957 | $46K | 21.0% | 5.5% | 49% | D |
| 2,376 | La Grande OR | 12,985 | $58K | 20.9% | 6.1% | 49% | D |
| 2,377 | Newport OR | 10,383 | $61K | 16.2% | 7.3% | 43% | D |
| 2,378 | Mineral Wells TX | 15,983 | $56K | 22.4% | 6.5% | 37% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 28% | 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 La Grande, 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 2024, 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 La Grande: questions
What is the median household income in La Grande?
$58,427 (±$6,092) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in La Grande?
20.9%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from La Grande?
13 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in La Grande work?
49% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Island City (4%, 2 mi), Pendleton (3%, 43 mi), Portland (3%, 222 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is La Grande walkable?
La Grande is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.6 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around La Grande without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 32% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from La Grande, from the people who make the trip.
More of La Grande
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.