Photo: Thomas Wozniak · CC BY-SA 4.0Making a living in Ogden
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 9.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 14.8 in Salt Lake City. For jobs and income Ogden is better than 51% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (A). About one in three work in Ogden itself; outside it, Salt Lake City draws the most (9%, 31 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Ogden, in a few figures
Ogden is where the jobs are
Ogden has 60,579 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Ogden’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Ogden is Salt Lake City, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (3,483) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A young workforce
31% of Ogden’s working residents are 29 or younger. The jobs ↓
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.
Ogden’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Job access by car holds Ogden’s grade up (ahead of 72% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.7%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Ogden could be anywhere from C+ to B.
Ogden on a workday afternoon
On a workday 25,166 residents head out to work, 13,852 work right here, and 46,727 people come in from elsewhere.
About 111,000 people are in Ogden on a workday afternoon, 24% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
The distance from Ogden to work
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 60,579 jobs based in Ogden
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Ogden, 2013 → 2023: 50,169 → 60,579. 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 Ogden’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting in to Ogden: where workers come from
Where Ogden clocks in
9% of workers
5% 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.
About 23 minutes to work from Ogden
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Ogden workers work from home, vs 18% across Utah. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 39,886 commuters (the 12% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Ogden
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.0% across Utah.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 45,333 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 94% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 32% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 9.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 92% 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). 8.9% of Ogden households have no vehicle (Utah 4.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Ogden’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ogden places 330th of 497 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 63,000 to 121,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Sandy UT | 92,386 | $112K | 5.5% | 2.6% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Lehi UT | 95,313 | $131K | 5.0% | 4.0% | 17% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 328 | Four Corners FL | 65,048 | $73K | 10.5% | 4.8% | 6% | B− |
| 329 | Parma OH | 78,581 | $69K | 10.1% | 6.5% | 10% | B− |
| 330 | Ogden UT | 89,510 | $73K | 13.7% | 4.1% | 36% | B− |
| 331 | Bellflower CA | 74,719 | $79K | 13.3% | 7.6% | 5% | B− |
| 332 | Southfield MI | 76,111 | $68K | 10.3% | 6.9% | 11% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 497 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Ogden, the top three, the last and three more from Utah.
Work in the towns next to Ogden
The biggest share goes to South Ogden (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Ogden workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ogden | – | B− | A | 23 min | $72,575 |
| South Ogden | 2% | B+ | A | 24 min | $80,130 |
| Riverdale | 2% | B | B+ | 18 min | $67,323 |
| West Haven | under 2% | A | B− | 23 min | $101,012 |
| Harrisville | under 2% | A | B | 21 min | $88,750 |
| North Ogden | under 2% | A | A− | 25 min | $113,722 |
| Marriott-Slaterville | under 2% | A− | B | 20 min | $101,786 |
| Roy | 2% | A | A− | 25 min | $91,282 |
| Farr West | 2% | A | B | 21 min | $127,574 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Ogden’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 Ogden: questions
What is the median household income in Ogden?
$72,575 (±$2,725) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,166 across Utah and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Ogden?
13.7%, against 8.5% across Utah and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Ogden?
23 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Utah and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Ogden work?
36% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Salt Lake City (9%, 31 mi), Layton (5%, 10 mi), Clearfield (4%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Ogden walkable?
Ogden is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Ogden without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 32% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Ogden, from the people who make the trip.
More of Ogden
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.