Photo: User:Mdvaden at en.wikipedia Mario Vaden (M.D. Vaden of Oregon): resident of Ruch from 2005 to 2007 · Public domainHousehold incomes in Ruch top those of 61% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Ruch are C− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Poverty touches 15.8% of residents, against 11.9% across Oregon. Working from home is the commute for 10% of workers, against 19% across Oregon.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Ruch, in brief
Ruch and Medford trade workers both ways
Medford is the top workplace for Ruch residents (36%) and also where the most people who work in Ruch come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Ruch workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 30 minutes each way, against 23 across Oregon. Over a year that’s about 230 hours of commuting, 54 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 250 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Ruch’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Ruch is better than 22% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Ruch’s grade up ($83,700, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Ruch’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, Ruch could be anywhere from D− to B+.
36% of working residents work in Medford
Where Ruch clocks in
36% of workers
15% 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.
Each way, about 30 minutes from Ruch
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ruch workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 599 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.
In and out of Ruch on a workday
On a workday 240 residents head out to work, 10 work right here, and 151 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.
0.64 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 161 jobs based in Ruch
161 jobs are based in Ruch.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ruch, 2013 → 2023: 220 → 161. 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 Ruch’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Ruch
About 18% 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 Ruch, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Ruch is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 1.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.4% across Oregon, on an EPA index of 5.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 669 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 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). 0.0% of Ruch households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Ruch’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Ruch is 2,858th among 4,312 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 138 | Stafford OR | 1,600 | $163K | 6.9% | 5.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 143 | Coburg OR | 1,373 | $98K | 1.5% | 8.9% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 230 | Aurora OR | 1,113 | $108K | 6.1% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,856 | Lyndon WI | 1,493 | $62K | 14.9% | 6.7% | 2% | C− |
| 2,857 | Saybrook-on-the-Lake OH | 1,001 | $49K | 11.3% | 4.7% | 0% | C− |
| 2,858 | Ruch OR | 1,151 | $84K | 15.8% | 0.0% | 4% | C− |
| 2,859 | Spalding Township MI | 1,563 | $63K | 9.4% | 5.3% | 8% | C− |
| 2,860 | Danbury NH | 1,317 | $72K | 12.4% | 5.7% | 7% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | 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 Ruch, 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 Ruch: questions
What is the median household income in Ruch?
$83,700 (±$53,569) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ruch?
15.8%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ruch?
30 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ruch work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Medford (36%, 12 mi), Grants Pass (15%, 20 mi), Ashland (4%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ruch walkable?
Ruch is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ruch without a car?
0% 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 Ruch, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ruch
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.