Photo: Orygun · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in La Pine are lower than in 77% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 5.2 in Bend. 19.2% of residents live below the poverty line, against 11.9% across Oregon. The two grades for La Pine are D for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in La Pine, in a few figures
La Pine and Bend trade workers both ways
Bend is the top workplace for La Pine residents (34%) and also where the most people who work in La Pine come from (21% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% 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 962 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How La Pine earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, La Pine is better than 6% of U.S. towns, #136 of 142 in Oregon. Household income holds La Pine’s grade up ($58,365, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (5.1%) is left out: La Pine’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, La Pine could be anywhere from D− to C−.
34% of working residents work in Bend
Where La Pine clocks in
34% of workers
7% 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.
Where in the region La Pine works
About 30% 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.
The daily commute in and out of La Pine
On a workday 874 residents head out to work, 88 work right here, and 1,078 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 (1.21 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.
Inside La Pine’s 1,166 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in La Pine, 2013 → 2023: 1,111 → 1,166. 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 La Pine’s own residents hold wherever they work.
La Pine’s commute takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of La Pine workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 770 commuters (the 19% 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.
In La Pine, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, La Pine is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #101 of 142 in Oregon. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.4% across Oregon, on an EPA index of 7.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 947 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 0.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 57% 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). 4.8% of La Pine households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of La Pine’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where La Pine sits among U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Dunthorpe OR | 1,875 | $250K | 1.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 215 | Hubbard OR | 3,399 | $102K | 3.6% | 1.6% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 218 | Boring OR | 1,869 | $159K | 3.8% | 6.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,701 | Granby MO | 2,113 | $49K | 25.6% | 13.7% | 4% | D |
| 4,702 | Vale OR | 2,055 | $50K | 16.4% | 4.8% | 28% | D |
| 4,703 | La Pine OR | 2,563 | $58K | 19.2% | 5.1% | 9% | D |
| 4,704 | Trinity TX | 2,450 | $28K | 34.7% | 5.5% | 13% | D |
| 4,705 | Rush Township OH | 2,801 | $56K | 19.3% | 8.7% | 4% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | 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 La Pine, 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 La Pine: questions
What is the median household income in La Pine?
$58,365 (±$4,342) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in La Pine?
19.2%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from La Pine?
25 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in La Pine work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bend (34%, 27 mi), Sunriver (7%, 14 mi), Portland (6%, 140 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is La Pine walkable?
La Pine is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around La Pine without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from La Pine, from the people who make the trip.
More of La Pine
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.