Photo: UncleVinny · CC BY 3.0Arden-Arcade has higher unemployment (8.6%) than 91% of U.S. towns
About one in ten work in Arden-Arcade; the top destination outside it is Sacramento (30%, 5 miles). Jobs and income earn Arden-Arcade C+; getting around on foot earns it A. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 5.2 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 7.8 in Sacramento.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Arden-Arcade
Arden-Arcade trades workers with the towns around it
Arden-Arcade has about as many jobs (38,565) as working residents (35,175), but they are mostly different people: 32,046 residents leave for work each day while 35,436 people come in. Only 8% of the jobs in Arden-Arcade are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Arden-Arcade works one town over
35% of working residents work in a town that borders Arden-Arcade: Sacramento (30%), Carmichael (3%) and North Highlands (2%). Next door ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Arden-Arcade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Arden-Arcade is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #565 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Arden-Arcade’s grade up (ahead of 93% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Arden-Arcade could be anywhere from C+ to B−.
Who commutes out of Arden-Arcade, and who commutes in
On a workday 32,046 residents head out to work, 3,129 work right here, and 35,436 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 (1.10 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.
Commuting out of Arden-Arcade: the destinations
Where Arden-Arcade clocks in
30% of workers
5% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
38,565 jobs are based in Arden-Arcade.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Arden-Arcade, 2013 → 2023: 40,125 → 38,565. 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 Arden-Arcade’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 26 minutes each way for Arden-Arcade’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 Arden-Arcade workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 34,569 commuters (the 18% 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.
Arden-Arcade’s commute, mile by mile
About 21% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Arden-Arcade
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Arden-Arcade is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns, #164 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across California.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 42,258 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 93% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 33% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 85% 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). 8.4% of Arden-Arcade households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Arden-Arcade’s commuters take a bus or train.
Arden-Arcade is 366th of 476 U.S. towns of 66,000 to 128,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| 3 | Bethesda MD | 69,397 | $192K | 4.3% | 3.1% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Berkeley CA | 121,911 | $108K | 17.3% | 5.6% | 21% | A |
| 29 | Mountain View CA | 85,438 | $190K | 6.0% | 3.7% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 364 | High Point NC | 120,571 | $65K | 15.7% | 5.2% | 23% | C+ |
| 365 | Kennewick WA | 88,366 | $74K | 14.3% | 5.1% | 29% | C+ |
| 366 | Arden-Arcade CA | 94,994 | $77K | 16.9% | 8.6% | 9% | C+ |
| 367 | Melbourne FL | 87,097 | $67K | 15.8% | 4.6% | 28% | C+ |
| 368 | Santa Fe NM | 89,837 | $73K | 12.9% | 5.1% | 58% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 476 | 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 Arden-Arcade, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Bordering towns draw 35% of Arden-Arcade’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Arden-Arcade workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arden-Arcade | – | C+ | A | 26 min | $77,321 |
| Sacramento | 30% | B− | A | 25 min | $87,321 |
| Carmichael | 3% | B− | A | 27 min | $85,914 |
| La Riviera | under 2% | B+ | A | 26 min | $97,975 |
| North Highlands | 2% | C+ | A− | 31 min | $65,495 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Sacramento. Darker towns draw more of Arden-Arcade’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 Arden-Arcade: questions
What is the median household income in Arden-Arcade?
$77,321 (±$4,493) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Arden-Arcade?
16.9%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Arden-Arcade?
26 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Arden-Arcade work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sacramento (30%, 5 mi), Roseville (5%, 12 mi), Rancho Cordova (4%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Arden-Arcade walkable?
Arden-Arcade is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 14.0 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Arden-Arcade without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 33% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Arden-Arcade, from the people who make the trip.
More of Arden-Arcade
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.