Photo: James Steakley · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Oregon commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Oregon has 2,994 jobs for 5,987 working residents. For jobs and income Oregon is better than 92% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (B). Home is the office for 23% of workers, next to 13% for Wisconsin as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Oregon at work: what stands out
43% of Oregon works in Madison
2,598 working residents, 43%, have their main job in Madison, 11 miles away. That’s 4 times as many as work in Oregon itself. The commute map ↓
A lot of Oregon works from home
23% of Oregon workers work from home, against 13% across Wisconsin. Time on the road ↓
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.
The figures behind Oregon’s Jobs & income grade
All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Oregon’s grade. It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oregon could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
43% of working residents work in Madison
Where Oregon clocks in
43% of workers
7% 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.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Oregon
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oregon workers work from home, vs 13% across Wisconsin. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,714 commuters (the 23% who work from home are left out). Across Wisconsin: 86% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The daily flow of workers through Oregon
On a workday 5,380 residents head out to work, 607 work right here, and 2,387 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,000 people are in Oregon on a workday afternoon, 25% 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.
The kinds of work in Oregon
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oregon, 2013 → 2023: 2,566 → 2,994. 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 Oregon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Oregon commutes less than 11 miles
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.
Few in Oregon walk, bike or ride to work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 6,091 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 1.7% of Oregon households have no vehicle (Wisconsin 6.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oregon’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Oregon is 362nd of 2,695 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Waukesha WI | 8,507 | $131K | 3.0% | 1.2% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | Greenville WI | 13,388 | $118K | 1.7% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Cottage Grove WI | 8,930 | $139K | 3.7% | 0.9% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 360 | Mack OH | 11,516 | $122K | 5.2% | 2.6% | 2% | A |
| 361 | Pea Ridge AR | 11,233 | $96K | 3.2% | 1.3% | 5% | A |
| 362 | Oregon WI | 12,015 | $103K | 4.7% | 2.2% | 10% | A |
| 363 | Southborough MA | 10,559 | $197K | 3.7% | 4.6% | 9% | A |
| 364 | Olmsted Township OH | 14,538 | $96K | 5.8% | 1.8% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Oregon, the top three, the last and three more from Wisconsin.
Around Oregon: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Oregon’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 Oregon: questions
What is the median household income in Oregon?
$102,978 (±$10,096) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,485 across Wisconsin and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oregon?
4.7%, against 10.6% across Wisconsin and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oregon?
23 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Wisconsin and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oregon work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Madison (43%, 11 mi), Fitchburg (7%, 5 mi), Verona (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oregon walkable?
Oregon is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oregon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oregon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oregon
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.