Photo: Gary Halvorson, Oregon State Archives · CC BY 4.0Toledo has higher unemployment (10.8%) than 96% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.1 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 19.6 in Portland. Jobs and income earn Toledo D−; getting around on foot earns it A. Household incomes here are lower than in 83% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Toledo apart
Toledo makes and builds things
51% of the jobs based in Toledo are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Toledo residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 20%. The jobs ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Toledo’s working residents have a job less than 7 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 26 minutes, longer than the Oregon average of 23. Time on the road ↓
Toledo and Newport trade workers both ways
Newport is the top workplace for Toledo residents (33%) and also where the most people who work in Toledo come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% 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.
Inside Toledo’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Toledo is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #140 of 142 in Oregon. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Toledo’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Toledo could be anywhere from D− to C.
A place that makes things: 51% of Toledo’s jobs are in goods
1,039 jobs are based in Toledo.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Toledo, 2013 → 2023: 1,047 → 1,039. 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 Toledo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 26 minutes in Toledo
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Toledo workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,325 commuters (the 5% 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.
33% of working residents work in Newport
Where Toledo clocks in
33% 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.
The distance from Toledo to work
About 32% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Toledo
On a workday 1,476 residents head out to work, 261 work right here, and 778 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,800 people are in Toledo on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
0.60 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Toledo
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Toledo is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns, #47 of 142 in Oregon. Both inputs place Toledo 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 1,398 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 98% 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 1.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 60% 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). 5.4% of Toledo households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Toledo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Toledo sits among U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 244 | Hubbard OR | 3,399 | $102K | 3.6% | 1.6% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 384 | Millersburg OR | 3,583 | $125K | 5.1% | 1.5% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 822 | North Plains OR | 3,414 | $118K | 2.9% | 6.4% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,415 | Donalsonville GA | 2,834 | $43K | 28.6% | 7.5% | 28% | D− |
| 4,416 | Unadilla GA | 3,091 | $37K | 20.9% | 13.6% | 8% | D− |
| 4,417 | Toledo OR | 3,473 | $54K | 27.0% | 10.8% | 15% | D− |
| 4,418 | McGehee AR | 3,389 | $37K | 34.0% | 5.9% | 33% | D− |
| 4,419 | Clinton AR | 2,511 | $43K | 20.0% | 0.0% | 34% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,535 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Toledo, 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 Toledo: questions
What is the median household income in Toledo?
$53,947 (±$9,874) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Toledo?
27.0%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Toledo?
26 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Toledo work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Newport (33%, 5 mi), Portland (6%, 89 mi), Salem (4%, 49 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Toledo walkable?
Toledo is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.4 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Toledo without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Toledo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Toledo
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.