Photo: Marine 69-71 · CC BY-SA 4.0Work means Yuma for about two in five of Somerton’s working residents
6% of workers have no commute at all, next to 18% for Arizona as a whole. Jobs and income earn Somerton C+; getting around on foot earns it B−. About one in ten work in Somerton; the top destination outside it is Yuma (42%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Somerton at work: what stands out
Fewer than half of Somerton workers earn over $40,000 a year
36% of Somerton’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 21% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Many jobs in Somerton pay little
30% of the jobs based in Somerton pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
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.
Where Somerton’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Somerton is better than 41% of U.S. towns, #60 of 140 in Arizona. Unemployment holds Somerton’s grade up (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.8%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Somerton could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Commuting out of Somerton: the destinations
Where Somerton clocks in
42% of workers
9% of workers
6% 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.
Goods jobs make up 30% of work in Somerton
2,698 jobs are based in Somerton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Somerton, 2013 → 2023: 2,310 → 2,698. 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 Somerton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Somerton, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 3,543 residents head out to work, 403 work right here, and 2,295 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
0.68 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.
From Somerton, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Somerton workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,963 commuters (the 6% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Somerton
About 26% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
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.
Driving is how Somerton gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Somerton is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns, #74 of 140 in Arizona. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 6,357 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 97% 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 2.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 69% 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). 6.2% of Somerton households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Somerton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Somerton next to U.S. towns of 10,000 to 20,000: 1,656th of 2,362 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Paradise Valley AZ | 12,251 | $247K | 5.5% | 2.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 397 | Vail AZ | 16,315 | $131K | 4.3% | 1.6% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 648 | New River AZ | 18,240 | $134K | 6.3% | 3.0% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,654 | Wayne Township IN | 11,013 | $60K | 14.9% | 3.2% | 23% | C+ |
| 1,655 | Garfield Township MI | 19,698 | $66K | 17.4% | 3.3% | 17% | C+ |
| 1,656 | Somerton AZ | 14,934 | $74K | 13.8% | 3.7% | 10% | C+ |
| 1,657 | Oneida NY | 10,009 | $62K | 14.3% | 3.5% | 19% | C+ |
| 1,658 | North Lakes AK | 10,223 | $102K | 7.3% | 7.1% | — | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,362 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Somerton, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
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 Somerton: questions
What is the median household income in Somerton?
$74,015 (±$11,292) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Somerton?
13.8%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Somerton?
23 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Somerton work?
10% work in town.
Is Somerton walkable?
Somerton is more walkable than 48% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 11.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Somerton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Somerton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Somerton
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.