Photo: Glenn Scofield Williams · CC BY 2.0More people are out of work in The Dalles (7.7%) than in 87% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 19.6 in Portland. The Dalles grades C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 7% of workers have no commute at all; Oregon has 19%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from The Dalles, in brief
The Dalles’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside The Dalles is Portland, 73 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (534) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from The Dalles are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 23 across Oregon. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Oregon worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
36% 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 ↓
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.
Jobs & income in The Dalles: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, The Dalles is better than 20% of U.S. towns, #112 of 142 in Oregon. The poverty rate holds The Dalles’ grade up (11.0%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, The Dalles could be anywhere from D to C+.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from The Dalles
About 36% 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.
Time on the road from The Dalles: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of The Dalles workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,498 commuters (the 7% 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.
A workday in The Dalles: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 4,163 residents head out to work, 2,884 work right here, and 4,397 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 (1.03 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.
8% of working residents work in Portland
Where The Dalles clocks in
7% 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 kinds of work in The Dalles
7,281 jobs are based in The Dalles.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in The Dalles, 2013 → 2023: 7,132 → 7,281. 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 The Dalles’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The Dalles is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, The Dalles is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #97 of 142 in Oregon. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.5% 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 7,020 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 73% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 11% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 50% 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). 8.1% of The Dalles households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of The Dalles’ commuters take a bus or train.
The Dalles places 1,850th of 2,109 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 11,000 to 21,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 170 | Oak Hills OR | 11,131 | $127K | 3.4% | 3.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 355 | Damascus OR | 11,437 | $123K | 3.2% | 3.6% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 436 | Sherwood OR | 20,535 | $110K | 4.3% | 3.5% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,848 | Athens TN | 15,263 | $54K | 17.0% | 6.2% | 33% | C− |
| 1,849 | St. Andrews SC | 19,868 | $47K | 25.4% | 7.2% | 3% | C− |
| 1,850 | The Dalles OR | 15,745 | $63K | 11.0% | 7.7% | 41% | C− |
| 1,851 | Chino Valley AZ | 13,832 | $61K | 11.4% | 5.3% | 12% | C− |
| 1,852 | Isla Vista CA | 13,920 | $26K | 70.4% | 17.4% | 5% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,109 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 The Dalles, the top three, the last and three more from Oregon.
The Dalles and its neighbors
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | The Dalles workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Dalles | – | C− | A− | 17 min | $62,614 |
| Chenoweth | under 1% | C− | C | 16 min | $63,425 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of The Dalles’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 The Dalles: questions
What is the median household income in The Dalles?
$62,614 (±$5,474) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in The Dalles?
11.0%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from The Dalles?
17 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in The Dalles work?
41% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portland (8%, 73 mi), Hood River (7%, 20 mi), Salem (2%, 102 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is The Dalles walkable?
The Dalles is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 12.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around The Dalles without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 11% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from The Dalles, from the people who make the trip.
More of The Dalles
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.