Work & commute · Jena

Work & commute in Jena, LA

About one in 4 of Jena’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Good Pine (7%), Alexandria (5%) and Midway (3%). Half commute less than 19 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

26%

282 of 1,081 working residents

Typical commute

19 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

36 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 799 Jena residents head out of town to work, 282 work right here, and 1,633 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Jena.

799live here, work elsewhere

282live and work here

1,633work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Jena goes to work

Jena (in town)right here

26%282

Good Pine2 mi away

7%72

Alexandria34 mi away

5%49

Midway1.5 mi away

3%36

Monroe57.3 mi away

3%29

Baton Rouge104.5 mi away

2%23

Pineville29.1 mi away

2%21

Urania15.3 mi away

1%14

Ruston65.4 mi away

1%13

Lafayette102.7 mi away

1%13

Everywhere elseother towns and states

49%529

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Jena commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

42%

15%

34%

42%Under 10 mi

9%10–24 mi

15%25–50 mi

34%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Jena is a job hub

1.77jobs per working resident

A job hub

1.8 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Jena are

1,915 jobs are based in Jena. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Jena’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Jena

1,915 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)3%

Trade, transport & utilities24%

Services (health, schools, offices…)73%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month34%

Over $3,333 a month48%

Jobs Jena residents hold

1,081 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)62%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month35%

Over $3,333 a month47%

+32%

Jobs based in Jena, 2013 → 2023: 1,456 → 1,915. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.