Work & commute · Rainier

Work & commute in Rainier, OR

Most working residents leave Rainier for work: only 9% work in town. The top destinations are Portland (13%), Longview (10%) and St. Helens (7%). Half commute less than 35 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

68 of 725 working residents

Typical commute

35 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

24 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

10%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 657 Rainier residents head out of town to work, 68 work right here, and 858 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Rainier.

657live here, work elsewhere

68live and work here

858work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Rainier goes to work

Portland38.5 mi away

13%96

Longview, WA6.2 mi away

10%71

Rainier (in town)right here

9%68

St. Helens15 mi away

7%48

Hillsboro36.8 mi away

4%32

Kelso, WA4.6 mi away

4%30

Vancouver, WA33.3 mi away

3%25

Salem78.5 mi away

2%17

Clatskanie13.4 mi away

2%16

Woodland, WA13 mi away

2%15

Everywhere elseother towns and states

42%307

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

How far

How far Rainier commutes

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

29%

18%

34%

19%

29%Under 10 mi

18%10–24 mi

34%25–50 mi

19%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Rainier is balanced between jobs and homes

1.28jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Rainier are

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

Jobs based in Rainier

926 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)52%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)28%

$1,250 a month or less9%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month68%

Jobs Rainier residents hold

725 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)31%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)47%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month63%

+39%

Jobs based in Rainier, 2013 → 2023: 665 → 926. 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.