Photo: Sanfranman59 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Alameda earn more than those in 93% of U.S. towns
At home: 33% of workers have no commute at all (California 17%). 7.2% of residents live below the poverty line; California has 12.0%. For jobs and income Alameda is better than 81% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is among the most walkable U.S. towns (A+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Alameda and work: the main findings
Alameda trades workers with the towns around it
Alameda has about as many jobs (30,434) as working residents (35,516), but they are mostly different people: 30,952 residents leave for work each day while 25,870 people come in. Only 15% of the jobs in Alameda are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Home offices are common in Alameda
33% of Alameda workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Alameda works one town over
38% of working residents work in a town that borders Alameda: San Francisco (21%) and Oakland (17%). Next door ↓
Short distances, slow trips
Half of Alameda’s working residents have a job less than 9 miles away, yet the average commute still takes 32 minutes, longer than the California average of 29. Time on the road ↓
Most jobs here, and most residents’ jobs, pay over $40,000
76% of Alameda’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data, and so do 73% of the jobs based in Alameda. 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.
Inside Alameda’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Alameda’s grade up (ahead of 94% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (5.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Alameda could be anywhere from B+ to A.
How a workday changes Alameda
On a workday 30,952 residents head out to work, 4,564 work right here, and 25,870 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.86 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
A commute of about 32 minutes in Alameda
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alameda workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 25,761 commuters (the 33% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
73% of the jobs in Alameda pay over $3,333 a month
30,434 jobs are based in Alameda.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alameda, 2013 → 2023: 22,638 → 30,434. 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 Alameda’s own residents hold wherever they work.
21% of working residents work in San Francisco
Where Alameda clocks in
17% of workers
3% 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.
How far Alameda goes to work
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.
Alameda is among the most walkable U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Alameda is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #7 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Alameda near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 38,253 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 72% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 19.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 98% 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). 8.1% of Alameda households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 15% of Alameda’s commuters take a bus or train.
154th of 572: where Alameda ranks among U.S. towns of 54,000 to 104,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Cupertino CA | 58,333 | $235K | 4.1% | 4.0% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | South San Francisco CA | 64,941 | $137K | 6.7% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 152 | Palm Beach Gardens FL | 63,883 | $107K | 7.2% | 3.9% | 17% | A− |
| 153 | Orland Township IL | 96,641 | $104K | 6.3% | 5.2% | 11% | A− |
| 154 | Alameda CA | 76,876 | $138K | 7.2% | 5.7% | 13% | A− |
| 155 | Tinley Park IL | 55,140 | $105K | 5.0% | 6.0% | 9% | A− |
| 156 | West Bloomfield Township MI | 66,049 | $125K | 6.7% | 5.6% | 6% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 572 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Alameda, the top three, the last and three more from California.
38% of Alameda works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to San Francisco (21%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Alameda workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alameda | – | A− | A+ | 32 min | $137,697 |
| Oakland | 17% | B | A+ | 30 min | $101,600 |
| San Francisco | 21% | B+ | A+ | 30 min | $140,970 |
| Brisbane | under 2% | A− | A | 34 min | $156,169 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Alameda’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 Alameda: questions
What is the median household income in Alameda?
$137,697 (±$5,003) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alameda?
7.2%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alameda?
32 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 33% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alameda work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Francisco (21%, 9 mi), Oakland (17%, 3 mi), Berkeley (3%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alameda walkable?
Alameda is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 15.5 out of 20, and 23% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alameda without a car?
15% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 72% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alameda, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alameda
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.