Photo: Finetooth · CC BY-SA 3.0Work and commuting in Prospect
The average commute takes 36 minutes each way, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. Working from home is the commute for 1% of workers (Oregon 19%). Only 3% work in Prospect; the top destination outside it is Medford (20%, 35 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who works in Prospect, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 114 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 77 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.
0.69 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
The towns that employ Prospect’s residents
Where Prospect clocks in
20% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
Prospect is a services town
81 jobs are based in Prospect.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Prospect, 2013 → 2023: 70 → 81. 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 Prospect’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 36 minutes each way for Prospect’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Prospect workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 172 commuters (the 1% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Prospect
About 20% 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.
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 Prospect: questions
What is the median household income in Prospect?
$53,625 (±$37,334) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Prospect?
15.3%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Prospect?
36 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Prospect work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Medford (20%, 35 mi), Grants Pass (5%, 49 mi), Eagle Point (4%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Prospect without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Prospect, from the people who make the trip.
More of Prospect
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.