Verde Homestead · Photo: Tricia Simpson · CC BY-SA 3.0Helper has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
Jobs and income earn Helper D; getting around on foot earns it B−. There are 265 jobs in Helper for 1,036 working residents. For 8% of workers, the job is at home; Utah has 18%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Helper, in brief
Fewer jobs are based in Helper than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Helper fell from 648 in 2013 to 265 in 2023, −59%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Helper and Price trade workers both ways
Price is the top workplace for Helper residents (30%) and also where the most people who work in Helper come from (22% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
45% 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 ↓
Helper workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 30 minutes each way, against 22 across Utah. Over a year that’s about 230 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Helper is a place people come home to
There are 265 jobs based in Helper, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Helper has about 1,400 people in it, 36% fewer than live here. 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.
What’s behind Helper’s Jobs & income grade
Unemployment holds Helper’s grade up (6.4%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Helper could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Jobs in Helper: what the 265 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Helper, 2013 → 2023: 648 → 265. 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 Helper’s own residents hold wherever they work.
30% of working residents work in Price
Where Helper clocks in
6% of workers
3% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Helper
About 45% 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.
How long Helper spends getting to work: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Helper workers work from home, vs 18% across Utah. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,092 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Utah: 82% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Who works in Helper, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,010 residents head out to work, 26 work right here, and 239 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Helper on a workday afternoon, 36% 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.
Few in Helper walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Helper is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Helper 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 1,180 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 5.1% of Helper households have no vehicle (Utah 4.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Helper’s commuters take a bus or train.
Helper is 4,759th of 5,404 U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,900 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 413 | South Willard UT | 1,532 | $119K | 4.5% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 423 | River Heights UT | 2,253 | $118K | 5.5% | 2.2% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 479 | Willard UT | 2,486 | $98K | 4.7% | 1.9% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,757 | Norwood NY | 1,521 | $54K | 17.2% | 8.4% | 2% | D |
| 4,758 | Franklin TX | 1,805 | $54K | 24.6% | 6.7% | 14% | D |
| 4,759 | Helper UT | 2,126 | $57K | 17.6% | 6.4% | 3% | D |
| 4,760 | Darrington WA | 1,500 | $66K | 19.4% | 10.8% | 11% | D |
| 4,761 | Jefferson Township KS | 2,117 | $42K | 19.7% | 5.4% | 4% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,404 | 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 Helper, the top three, the last and three more from Utah.
Helper and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Helper workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helper | – | D | B− | 30 min | $56,875 |
| Spring Glen | under 2% | D− | D− | 15 min | $52,386 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Helper’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 Helper: questions
What is the median household income in Helper?
$56,875 (±$15,575) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,166 across Utah and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Helper?
17.6%, against 8.5% across Utah and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Helper?
30 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Utah and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Helper work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Price (30%, 7 mi), Salt Lake City (6%, 94 mi), Wellington (3%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Helper walkable?
Helper is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Helper without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Helper, from the people who make the trip.
More of Helper
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.