EASTERN OREGON — More than a third of Eastern Oregon’s workforce commuted across county lines for their jobs in 2019, according to federal census data.

In some areas, that percentage is even higher.

“It’s a product of the economy,” said Christopher Rich, regional economist with the Oregon Employment Department, “and places people are and the jobs that are available and how housing market that’s available.”

Roughly 38.5% of Union County residents commute for work in a different county, while 41% of Grant County residents commute for work. In Umatilla County, 35.8% of residents commute across county lines for work, while 24.4% of Wallowa residents commuted to other counties for work.

A staggering 58.7% of Morrow County residents worked in other counties, according to the data.

Rich said the data does not distinguish between commuters who travel between counties on a daily basis and those who might travel for seasonal work, such as nurses or wildland firefighters.

“There’s likely to be some more long-term commuters that come in for maybe a season,” Rich said. “The data doesn’t specifically say that.”

Most of the workers who cross county lines do so to neighboring counties, though a fair few will skip more than one county, such as living in Baker and working in Pendleton, but that could be due to imperfect data, according to Rich, who has been updating articles on Oregon’s economic data website, qualityinfo.org with data from 2019.

“I think in general, people are looking for jobs that fit with the skill sets and their lifestyle,” Rich said. “They’re also looking for homes that fit the same thing, so in some cases, you end up having to commute a little longer.”