Photo: Meronim · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Pacific City have higher incomes than those in 71% of U.S. towns
16.9% of residents live below the poverty line; Oregon has 11.9%. For jobs and income Pacific City is better than 23% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in ten work in Pacific City; the top destination outside it is Tillamook (12%, 18 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Pacific City, in a few figures
A big share show a job far from home
38% 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 ↓
Commutes from Pacific City are quick
The average trip to work takes 11 minutes, against 23 across Oregon. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Oregon worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 405 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Pacific City’s grade
Household income holds Pacific City’s grade up ($93,207, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Pacific City’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, Pacific City could be anywhere from D− to B.
Half of Pacific City commutes less than 22 miles
About 38% 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.
Pacific City’s commute takes about 11 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pacific City workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 465 commuters (the 14% 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.
Who leaves Pacific City for work, and who comes in
On a workday 361 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 415 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 (1.13 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.
Commuting out of Pacific City: the destinations
Where Pacific City clocks in
12% of workers
5% 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 459 jobs in Pacific City are
459 jobs are based in Pacific City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pacific City, 2014 → 2024: 221 → 459. 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 Pacific City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Pacific City gets around
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 31.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.4% across Oregon, on an EPA index of 5.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 543 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 0.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 55% 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). 0.0% of Pacific City households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 12% of Pacific City’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Pacific City ranks: 3,511th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | 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% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 183 | Stafford OR | 1,600 | $163K | 6.9% | 5.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 190 | Coburg OR | 1,373 | $98K | 1.5% | 8.9% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 295 | Aurora OR | 1,113 | $108K | 6.1% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,509 | Williams Township PA | 1,062 | $78K | 16.7% | 9.0% | 2% | C− |
| 3,510 | Marshfield VT | 1,567 | $60K | 9.2% | 3.9% | 4% | C− |
| 3,511 | Pacific City OR | 1,303 | $93K | 16.9% | 0.0% | 11% | C− |
| 3,512 | Marissa IL | 1,724 | $55K | 12.8% | 14.2% | 7% | C− |
| 3,513 | Melcher-Dallas IA | 1,196 | $59K | 13.6% | 5.0% | 5% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Pacific City, 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 Pacific City: questions
What is the median household income in Pacific City?
$93,207 (±$48,952) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pacific City?
16.9%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pacific City?
11 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pacific City work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tillamook (12%, 18 mi), Portland (11%, 67 mi), Lincoln City (5%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Pacific City walkable?
Pacific City is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 31% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pacific City without a car?
12% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pacific City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pacific City
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.