Photo: Bruce Fingerhood from Springfield, Oregon, US · CC BY 2.0At 11.9%, unemployment in Alturas is higher than in 97% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.2 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 17.5 in Los Angeles. The two grades for Alturas are D− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. 7% of workers have no commute at all; California has 17%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Alturas
The figures behind Alturas’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Alturas is better than 5% of U.S. towns, #820 of 847 in California. Household income holds Alturas’ grade up ($59,896, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Alturas could be anywhere from D− to C−.
About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of California
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Alturas workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 955 commuters (the 7% 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.
How a workday changes Alturas
On a workday 493 residents head out to work, 639 work right here, and 891 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,000 people are in Alturas on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.35 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.
Where Alturas goes to work
Where Alturas clocks in
2% of workers
2% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Alturas
1,530 jobs are based in Alturas.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Alturas, 2013 → 2023: 1,263 → 1,530. 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 Alturas’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Alturas
About 27% 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.
In Alturas, walking beats the bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,027 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 78% 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 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 44% 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). 12.6% of Alturas households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Alturas’ commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,600, and where Alturas sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Harmony Grove CA | 2,585 | $227K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Ross CA | 2,304 | $250K | 4.8% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 117 | Fairbanks Ranch CA | 2,703 | $250K | 5.5% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,952 | Coal Township OH | 1,986 | $56K | 26.6% | 15.3% | 1% | D− |
| 4,953 | Paxton Township OH | 1,869 | $46K | 18.6% | 7.2% | 5% | D− |
| 4,954 | Alturas CA | 2,634 | $60K | 18.0% | 11.9% | 56% | D− |
| 4,955 | Ellijay GA | 2,008 | $48K | 26.2% | 6.3% | 19% | D− |
| 4,956 | Hampton SC | 2,598 | $43K | 18.3% | 11.8% | 12% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,278 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Alturas, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Alturas and its neighbors
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Alturas workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alturas | – | D− | A+ | 19 min | $59,896 |
| Daphnedale Park | under 1% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Daphnedale Park: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Alturas’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 Alturas: questions
What is the median household income in Alturas?
$59,896 (±$15,615) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Alturas?
18.0%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Alturas?
19 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Alturas work?
56% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cedarville (3%, 20 mi), Redding (2%, 114 mi), Susanville (2%, 73 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Alturas walkable?
Alturas is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.4 out of 20, and 16% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Alturas without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Alturas, from the people who make the trip.
More of Alturas
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.