Photo: Tony the Marine · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Gilbert top those of 89% of U.S. towns
26% of workers work from home (Arizona 18%). Below the poverty line: 5.3% of residents; Arizona has 12.5%. Gilbert grades A for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Gilbert, in a few figures
Gilbert has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Gilbert went from 50,381 in 2013 to 86,939 in 2023, +73%. The jobs ↓
Gilbert’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Gilbert is Phoenix, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 23% of working residents (29,387) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A lot of Gilbert works one town over
29% of working residents work in a town that borders Gilbert: Chandler (14%), Mesa (14%) and Queen Creek (1%). Next door ↓
A lot of Gilbert works from home
26% of Gilbert workers work from home, against 18% across Arizona. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How Gilbert earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Gilbert is better than 90% of U.S. towns, #4 of 140 in Arizona. Household income is its strongest input ($122,551, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gilbert stays A.
The kinds of work in Gilbert
86,939 jobs are based in Gilbert.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gilbert, 2013 → 2023: 50,381 → 86,939. 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 Gilbert’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Gilbert works
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.
About 26 minutes each way for Gilbert’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gilbert workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 107,509 commuters (the 26% who work from home are left out). Across Arizona: 82% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Gilbert
On a workday 107,253 residents head out to work, 18,266 work right here, and 68,673 people come in from elsewhere.
About 249,000 people are in Gilbert on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.69 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
23% of working residents work in Phoenix
Where Gilbert clocks in
23% of workers
14% of workers
14% 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.
Most of Gilbert commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gilbert is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns, #27 of 140 in Arizona. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.9% across Arizona.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 145,491 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 32% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, <1% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 66% 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). 2.3% of Gilbert households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Gilbert’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Gilbert is 7th of 83 U.S. towns of 201,000 to 388,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Oyster Bay NY | 301,115 | $160K | 3.9% | 4.6% | 19% | A |
| 3 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Arlington VA | 236,254 | $142K | 7.4% | 3.3% | 20% | A |
| 6 | McKinney TX | 236,001 | $124K | 5.7% | 3.7% | 13% | A |
| 7 | Gilbert AZ | 287,285 | $123K | 5.3% | 3.5% | 15% | A |
| 8 | Fremont CA | 226,442 | $182K | 5.2% | 4.7% | 17% | A |
| 9 | Overland Park KS | 203,677 | $105K | 5.6% | 3.6% | 32% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Scottsdale AZ | 243,006 | $111K | 7.3% | 3.6% | 28% | A |
| 14 | Chandler AZ | 278,748 | $108K | 7.9% | 3.6% | 23% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Glendale AZ | 260,572 | $74K | 15.1% | 5.6% | 11% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Cleveland OH | 363,608 | $41K | 30.6% | 10.8% | 42% | C− |
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 Gilbert, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
29% of Gilbert works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Chandler (14%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Gilbert workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gilbert | – | A | B+ | 26 min | $122,551 |
| Chandler | 14% | A− | B+ | 24 min | $108,095 |
| Mesa | 14% | B+ | A− | 25 min | $82,752 |
| Queen Creek | 1% | A− | B | 31 min | $141,978 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Gilbert’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 Gilbert: questions
What is the median household income in Gilbert?
$122,551 (±$3,414) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gilbert?
5.3%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gilbert?
26 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gilbert work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Phoenix (23%, 27 mi), Chandler (14%, 7 mi), Mesa (14%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gilbert walkable?
Gilbert is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 10.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gilbert without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. <1% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gilbert, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gilbert
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.