Photo: Jey0h at English Wikipedia · Public domainMore people are out of work in Arvin (14.0%) than in 98% of U.S. towns
At home: 2% of workers have no commute at all (California 17%). Arvin grades D for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Measured by household income, Arvin is behind 89% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Arvin apart on work
Arvin and Bakersfield trade workers both ways
Bakersfield is the top workplace for Arvin residents (21%) and also where the most people who work in Arvin come from (29% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Arvin workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 17% across California. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
36% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Arvin: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Arvin is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #804 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Arvin’s grade up (ahead of 54% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Arvin stays D.
21% of working residents work in Bakersfield
Where Arvin clocks in
21% 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.
Time on the road from Arvin: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Arvin workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,736 commuters (the 2% 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.
The commute from Arvin, by distance
About 36% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Arvin
On a workday 5,105 residents head out to work, 620 work right here, and 1,510 people come in from elsewhere.
About 16,000 people are in Arvin on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.37 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.
The kinds of work in Arvin
2,130 jobs are based in Arvin.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Arvin, 2013 → 2023: 1,770 → 2,130. 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 Arvin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in Arvin is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Arvin is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns, #689 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% 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 6,859 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 40% 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 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 54% 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). 5.5% of Arvin households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Arvin’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 14,000 to 27,000, and where Arvin sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 54 | Orinda CA | 19,507 | $250K | 2.2% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Alamo CA | 14,488 | $250K | 2.1% | 3.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Coto de Caza CA | 15,190 | $244K | 3.0% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,825 | Center Township IN | 21,606 | $43K | 31.7% | 9.9% | 31% | D |
| 1,826 | Plainview TX | 19,314 | $45K | 24.0% | 6.7% | 40% | D |
| 1,827 | Arvin CA | 19,820 | $49K | 34.6% | 14.0% | 11% | D |
| 1,828 | Greenville MS | 26,530 | $40K | 28.0% | 6.7% | 48% | D |
| 1,829 | Coolidge AZ | 19,959 | $67K | 19.9% | 14.1% | 11% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,860 | 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 Arvin, the top three, the last and three more from California.
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 Arvin: questions
What is the median household income in Arvin?
$49,183 (±$3,904) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Arvin?
34.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Arvin?
25 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Arvin work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bakersfield (21%, 16 mi), Los Angeles (6%, 85 mi), Shafter (2%, 29 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Arvin walkable?
Arvin is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Arvin without a car?
1% 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 Arvin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Arvin
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.