Photo: Jsayre64 · CC BY-SA 3.0Eugene draws about two in five of Springfield’s working residents
Jobs and income earn Springfield C+; getting around on foot earns it A. 10% of workers work from home; Oregon has 19%. Household incomes here are lower than in 60% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Springfield
Springfield trades workers with the towns around it
Springfield has about as many jobs (27,295) as working residents (26,023), but they are mostly different people: 19,277 residents leave for work each day while 20,549 people come in. Only 25% of the jobs in Springfield are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Most Springfield residents work close to home
70% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Springfield
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Springfield is better than 41% of U.S. towns, #84 of 142 in Oregon. Job access by car holds Springfield’s grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (14.9%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Springfield could be anywhere from C to B−.
Where Springfield goes to work
Where Springfield clocks in
42% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Springfield
On a workday 19,277 residents head out to work, 6,746 work right here, and 20,549 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 (1.05 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.
Half of Springfield commutes less than 6 miles
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.
What work there is in Springfield: 27,295 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Springfield, 2013 → 2023: 25,504 → 27,295. 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 Springfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 19 minutes in Springfield
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Springfield workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 27,780 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.
Springfield is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Springfield is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns, #39 of 142 in Oregon. Both inputs place Springfield 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 30,799 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 88% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 27% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 40% 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). 8.3% of Springfield households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Springfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Springfield is 562nd among 720 U.S. towns of 43,000 to 83,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 229 | Tigard OR | 57,929 | $109K | 6.7% | 4.7% | 13% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 269 | Aloha OR | 52,389 | $102K | 7.8% | 4.2% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 422 | Corvallis OR | 61,499 | $65K | 24.3% | 8.4% | 46% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 560 | Knight Township IN | 68,332 | $58K | 16.4% | 4.1% | 27% | C+ |
| 561 | Decatur AL | 58,056 | $62K | 13.1% | 4.5% | 33% | C+ |
| 562 | Springfield OR | 61,431 | $69K | 14.9% | 5.1% | 26% | C+ |
| 563 | Grand Junction CO | 71,827 | $70K | 11.8% | 4.8% | 67% | C+ |
| 564 | Florin CA | 50,211 | $71K | 15.7% | 7.5% | 7% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 720 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Springfield, the top three, the last and three more from Oregon.
The towns next door employ 42% of Springfield
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Springfield workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Springfield | – | C+ | A | 19 min | $68,761 |
| Eugene | 42% | C | A+ | 18 min | $66,562 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Eugene. Darker towns draw more of Springfield’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Springfield: questions
What is the median household income in Springfield?
$68,761 (±$2,908) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Springfield?
14.9%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Springfield?
19 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Springfield work?
26% work in town.
Is Springfield walkable?
Springfield is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.7 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Springfield without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 27% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Springfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Springfield
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.