James Rowley and Mary J. Blackaby House · Photo: Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Ontario are lower than in 92% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Ontario D; getting around on foot earns it A. Below the poverty line: 21.0% of residents, against 11.9% across Oregon. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 19.6 in Portland.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Ontario, in brief
Many of the people who work in Ontario live in another state
Payette, ID (9%), Fruitland, ID (7%) and Weiser, ID (3%) are among the top places Ontario’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 23% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
A lot of Ontario workers cross into Idaho
21% of Ontario workers work outside Oregon, most of them in Idaho, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Ontario is where the jobs are
Ontario has 7,621 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Ontario are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 23 across Oregon. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Oregon worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Ontario workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Ontario’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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.
Why Ontario gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Ontario is better than 12% of U.S. towns, #129 of 142 in Oregon. Unemployment holds Ontario’s grade up (5.5%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($46,308, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ontario could be anywhere from D to C.
Commuting in to Ontario: where workers come from
Where Ontario clocks in
6% of workers
4% of workers
2% 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.
How a workday changes Ontario
On a workday 2,126 residents head out to work, 2,010 work right here, and 5,611 people come in from elsewhere.
About 15,000 people are in Ontario on a workday afternoon, 29% more than live here.
1.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
How long Ontario spends getting to work: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ontario workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,594 commuters (the 8% 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 kinds of work in Ontario
7,621 jobs are based in Ontario.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ontario, 2013 → 2023: 8,217 → 7,621. 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 Ontario’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Ontario to work
About 17% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Ontario
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ontario is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns, #57 of 142 in Oregon. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.4% 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 4,976 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 86% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 86% 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). 9.4% of Ontario households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ontario’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000, and where Ontario 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 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 171 | Bull Mountain OR | 9,865 | $165K | 4.7% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 204 | Oak Hills OR | 11,131 | $127K | 3.4% | 3.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 413 | Damascus OR | 11,437 | $123K | 3.2% | 3.6% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,511 | Ogdensburg NY | 9,123 | $62K | 16.1% | 8.4% | 38% | D |
| 2,512 | Potsdam NY | 8,019 | $35K | 29.0% | 4.8% | 33% | D |
| 2,513 | Ontario OR | 11,957 | $46K | 21.0% | 5.5% | 49% | D |
| 2,514 | La Grande OR | 12,985 | $58K | 20.9% | 6.1% | 50% | D |
| 2,515 | Newport OR | 10,383 | $61K | 16.2% | 7.3% | 43% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Ontario, 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 Ontario: questions
What is the median household income in Ontario?
$46,308 (±$8,944) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ontario?
21.0%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ontario?
14 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ontario work?
49% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fruitland (6%, 3 mi), Nampa (4%, 37 mi), Vale (2%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ontario walkable?
Ontario is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 14.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ontario without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 86% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ontario, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ontario
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.