Photo: Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0Lowell has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
10% of workers work from home (Oregon 19%). There are 221 jobs in Lowell for 447 working residents. For jobs and income Lowell is better than 66% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Lowell apart
Lowell and Eugene trade workers both ways
Eugene is the top workplace for Lowell residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Lowell come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Lowell workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 29 minutes each way, against 23 across Oregon. Over a year that’s about 222 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical 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 447 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Lowell’s Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Lowell’s grade up ($99,440, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 37% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Lowell’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, Lowell could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
31% of working residents work in Eugene
Where Lowell clocks in
31% of workers
16% 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.
A commute of about 29 minutes in Lowell
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lowell workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 506 commuters (the 10% 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 Lowell
On a workday 431 residents head out to work, 16 work right here, and 205 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Lowell on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
In Lowell, 38% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lowell, 2013 → 2023: 185 → 221. 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 Lowell’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Lowell, by distance
About 26% 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.
In Lowell, walking beats the bus
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.3% 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 561 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 100% 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). 1.4% of Lowell households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Lowell’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Lowell ranks: 981st of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 161 | Stafford OR | 1,600 | $163K | 6.9% | 5.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 168 | Coburg OR | 1,373 | $98K | 1.5% | 8.9% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 266 | Aurora OR | 1,113 | $108K | 6.1% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 979 | Stedman NC | 1,312 | $107K | 7.5% | 1.7% | 4% | B+ |
| 980 | Pine Knoll Shores NC | 1,423 | $109K | 3.5% | 3.8% | 5% | B+ |
| 981 | Lowell OR | 1,283 | $99K | 6.9% | 0.0% | 4% | B+ |
| 982 | Preble Township IN | 1,053 | $78K | 5.3% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 983 | Wilson Township MN | 1,140 | $99K | 6.7% | 1.4% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Lowell, 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 Lowell: questions
What is the median household income in Lowell?
$99,440 (±$16,645) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lowell?
6.9%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lowell?
29 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lowell work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Eugene (31%, 19 mi), Springfield (16%, 14 mi), Portland (4%, 112 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lowell walkable?
Lowell is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lowell without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 100% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lowell, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lowell
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.