Photo: InSapphoWeTrust from Los Angeles, California, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Unemployment in Vernal (8.7%) is higher than in 91% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, against 18% across Utah. For jobs and income Vernal is better than 12% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (A). About one in three stay in Vernal for work; outside it, Naples is the main destination (6%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Vernal apart on work
Few Vernal workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 18% across Utah. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Vernal are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 22 across Utah. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Utah worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% 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.
Jobs & income in Vernal: the grade in detail
Household income holds Vernal’s grade up ($64,457, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Vernal could be anywhere from D to C.
Vernal’s commute takes about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vernal workers work from home, vs 18% across Utah. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,938 commuters (the 4% 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.
Half of Vernal commutes less than 5 miles
About 33% 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 many people are in Vernal by day
On a workday 3,138 residents head out to work, 1,576 work right here, and 4,616 people come in from elsewhere.
About 12,000 people are in Vernal on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.31 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.
Commuting out of Vernal: the destinations
Where Vernal clocks in
6% 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.
What work there is in Vernal: 6,192 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vernal, 2013 → 2023: 6,739 → 6,192. 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 Vernal’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Vernal is easy on foot, hard by bus
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 14.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Utah, on an EPA index of 8.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,099 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). 3.4% of Vernal households have no vehicle (Utah 4.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Vernal’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Vernal compares with U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | South Weber UT | 8,218 | $139K | 2.2% | 1.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | West Point UT | 13,058 | $121K | 1.6% | 1.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 159 | Plain City UT | 9,256 | $133K | 2.6% | 1.1% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,660 | Quincy FL | 8,162 | $32K | 42.7% | 4.1% | 13% | D |
| 2,661 | Perryville MO | 8,593 | $52K | 19.0% | 6.8% | 43% | D |
| 2,662 | Vernal UT | 10,671 | $64K | 17.9% | 8.7% | 33% | D |
| 2,663 | East Bakersfield CA | 11,062 | $39K | 42.6% | 13.0% | 1% | D |
| 2,664 | Russellville KY | 7,454 | $45K | 20.7% | 6.4% | 25% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Vernal, the top three, the last and three more from Utah.
Vernal and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Maeser (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Vernal’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 Vernal: questions
What is the median household income in Vernal?
$64,457 (±$4,817) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,166 across Utah and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vernal?
17.9%, against 8.5% across Utah and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Vernal?
16 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Utah and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vernal work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Naples (6%, 3 mi), Roosevelt (5%, 26 mi), Salt Lake City (4%, 127 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vernal walkable?
Vernal is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vernal without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Vernal, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vernal
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.