William and Julia Lyman House · Photo: Ntsimp · CC0Parowan has higher unemployment (8.6%) than 91% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Parowan; the top destination outside it is Cedar City (27%, 18 miles). Jobs and income earn Parowan D; getting around on foot earns it C+. Measured by household income, Parowan is behind 84% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Parowan stands out on work
Parowan and Cedar City trade workers both ways
Cedar City is the top workplace for Parowan residents (27%) and also where the most people who work in Parowan come from (27% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Parowan has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Parowan went from 335 in 2013 to 668 in 2023, +99%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
41% 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; with 758 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Parowan
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Parowan is better than 9% of U.S. towns, #118 of 119 in Utah. The poverty rate holds Parowan’s grade up (12.3%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Parowan could be anywhere from D− to B.
Where Parowan goes to work
Where Parowan clocks in
7% 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.
The 668 jobs based in Parowan
668 jobs are based in Parowan.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Parowan, 2013 → 2023: 335 → 668. 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 Parowan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Parowan
About 41% 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.
Parowan on a workday afternoon
On a workday 634 residents head out to work, 124 work right here, and 544 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 (0.88 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.
About 28 minutes to work from Parowan
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Parowan workers work from home, vs 18% across Utah. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 834 commuters (the 24% 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.
In Parowan, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Parowan is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns, #107 of 119 in Utah. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 1,099 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). 0.0% of Parowan households have no vehicle (Utah 4.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Parowan’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Parowan sits among U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 97 | Lake Point UT | 2,947 | $137K | 2.0% | 1.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 278 | Mountain Green UT | 3,976 | $150K | 0.9% | 1.7% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 415 | Wellsville UT | 4,303 | $104K | 3.1% | 1.0% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,046 | Manchester GA | 3,594 | $51K | 20.1% | 6.0% | 10% | D |
| 4,047 | Postville IA | 2,402 | $49K | 23.7% | 5.2% | 26% | D |
| 4,048 | Parowan UT | 3,282 | $53K | 12.3% | 8.6% | 16% | D |
| 4,049 | East Tawas MI | 2,662 | $42K | 15.7% | 5.2% | 9% | D |
| 4,050 | Ruidoso Downs NM | 2,588 | $31K | 40.5% | 3.4% | 12% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,453 | 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 Parowan, the top three, the last and three more from Utah.
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 Parowan: questions
What is the median household income in Parowan?
$53,145 (±$12,819) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,166 across Utah and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Parowan?
12.3%, against 8.5% across Utah and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Parowan?
28 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Utah and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Parowan work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cedar City (27%, 18 mi), St. George (7%, 66 mi), Brian Head (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Parowan walkable?
Parowan is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Parowan without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Parowan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Parowan
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.