Photo: Geirfuglasker · CC BY-SA 4.0Vernonia has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
There are 377 jobs in Vernonia, against 1,156 working residents. For jobs and income Vernonia is better than 25% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (B). 10% of workers work from home, where Oregon as a whole has 19%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Vernonia
Vernonia workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 40 minutes each way, against 23 across Oregon. Over a year that’s about 307 hours of commuting, 130 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Vernonia’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Vernonia is Hillsboro, 26 miles away as the crow flies. 19% of working residents (215) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Vernonia
65% of Vernonia residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 47% of the jobs based in Vernonia pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 88% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Vernonia empties out on a workday
About 1,600 people are in Vernonia on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than the 2,400 who live here: 1,000 head out to work and 240 come in. Day and night ↓
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 Vernonia: the grade in detail
Household income holds Vernonia’s grade up ($83,411, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Vernonia could be anywhere from D to B.
About 40 minutes to work from Vernonia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vernonia workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,259 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.
Miles to work from Vernonia
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.
Jobs in Vernonia: what the 377 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vernonia, 2013 → 2023: 388 → 377. 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 Vernonia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Vernonia
On a workday 1,015 residents head out to work, 141 work right here, and 236 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Vernonia on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Vernonia goes to work
Where Vernonia clocks in
19% 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.
Few in Vernonia walk, bike or ride to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.4% across Oregon, on an EPA index of 5.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,399 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 0.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 49% 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). 4.5% of Vernonia households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Vernonia’s commuters take a bus or train.
Vernonia next to U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300: 3,692nd of 5,207 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Dunthorpe OR | 1,875 | $250K | 1.2% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 214 | Boring OR | 1,869 | $159K | 3.8% | 6.0% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 821 | Dundee OR | 3,193 | $107K | 3.3% | 4.2% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,690 | Limon CO | 2,021 | $66K | 8.1% | 1.7% | 32% | C |
| 3,691 | New Concord OH | 2,473 | $70K | 15.7% | 6.0% | 11% | C |
| 3,692 | Vernonia OR | 2,412 | $83K | 10.0% | 6.6% | 12% | C |
| 3,693 | Homestead Township MI | 2,419 | $62K | 12.8% | 4.0% | 6% | C |
| 3,694 | Machias NY | 2,294 | $59K | 20.1% | 2.3% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Vernonia, 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 Vernonia: questions
What is the median household income in Vernonia?
$83,411 (±$5,362) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vernonia?
10.0%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Vernonia?
40 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vernonia work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hillsboro (19%, 26 mi), Portland (16%, 34 mi), Beaverton (4%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vernonia walkable?
Vernonia is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vernonia without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Vernonia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vernonia
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.