Photo: Chris Phan ("functoruser") · CC BY 2.0Households in Oakridge earn less than those in 96% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Oakridge D−; getting around on foot earns it A−. Poverty touches 23.9% of residents; Oregon has 11.9%. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.6 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 0.3 in Eugene.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Oakridge: the figures worth knowing
Oakridge workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 45 minutes each way, against 23 across Oregon. Over a year that’s about 345 hours of commuting, 169 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Oakridge’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Oakridge is Eugene, 39 miles away as the crow flies. 18% of working residents (173) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Oakridge has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Oakridge went from 464 in 2013 to 776 in 2023, +67%. The jobs ↓
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 947 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Oakridge gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Oakridge is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #142 of 142 in Oregon. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Oakridge’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oakridge could be anywhere from D− to C−.
About 45 minutes to work from Oakridge
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 14.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oakridge workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 755 commuters (the 18% 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.
Where in the region Oakridge works
About 35% 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.
Making and building: 42% of jobs based in Oakridge
776 jobs are based in Oakridge.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oakridge, 2013 → 2023: 464 → 776. 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 Oakridge’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 721 residents head out to work, 226 work right here, and 550 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 (0.82 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.
18% of working residents work in Eugene
Where Oakridge clocks in
18% of workers
9% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Oakridge
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oakridge is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #87 of 142 in Oregon. Both inputs place Oakridge 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 926 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 33% 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 0.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 51% 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 Oakridge households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oakridge’s commuters take a bus or train.
Oakridge and other U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 221 | Hubbard OR | 3,399 | $102K | 3.6% | 1.6% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 347 | Millersburg OR | 3,583 | $125K | 5.1% | 1.5% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 772 | North Plains OR | 3,414 | $118K | 2.9% | 6.4% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,546 | Walton NY | 2,824 | $35K | 30.3% | 15.7% | 25% | D− |
| 4,547 | West Union OH | 3,091 | $29K | 38.6% | 14.0% | 18% | D− |
| 4,548 | Oakridge OR | 3,127 | $40K | 23.9% | 18.2% | 24% | D− |
| 4,549 | Mattawa WA | 3,874 | $38K | 33.3% | 11.6% | 21% | D− |
| 4,550 | Goldendale WA | 3,528 | $40K | 29.7% | 14.0% | 31% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,562 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Oakridge, 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 Oakridge: questions
What is the median household income in Oakridge?
$40,297 (±$6,793) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oakridge?
23.9%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oakridge?
45 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oakridge work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Eugene (18%, 39 mi), Springfield (9%, 33 mi), Portland (5%, 124 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oakridge walkable?
Oakridge is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oakridge without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oakridge, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oakridge
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.