Atascadero Printery · Photo: MoneyMattson · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Atascadero earn more than those in 69% of U.S. towns
Atascadero grades B− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 11.4% of residents live below the poverty line (California 12.0%). About one in five work in Atascadero itself; outside it, San Luis Obispo draws the most (17%, 15 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Atascadero stands out on work
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Atascadero
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Atascadero is better than 51% of U.S. towns, #501 of 847 in California. Household income holds Atascadero’s grade up ($91,429, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Atascadero could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Getting to work from Atascadero takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Atascadero workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,333 commuters (the 14% 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 many people are in Atascadero by day
On a workday 9,821 residents head out to work, 2,629 work right here, and 5,820 people come in from elsewhere.
About 25,000 people are in Atascadero on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
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.
The places Atascadero commutes to
Where Atascadero clocks in
17% 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.
What the 8,449 jobs in Atascadero are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Atascadero, 2013 → 2023: 7,583 → 8,449. 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 Atascadero’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Atascadero
About 25% 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.
Getting around Atascadero: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Atascadero is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #573 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.9% 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 14,309 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 39% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 17% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 55% 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). 3.4% of Atascadero households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Atascadero’s commuters take a bus or train.
Atascadero next to U.S. towns of 21,000 to 40,000: 926th of 1,366 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 116 | Lafayette CA | 25,313 | $228K | 2.9% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 924 | Eustis FL | 25,483 | $65K | 9.6% | 3.8% | 8% | B− |
| 925 | Kearney NE | 34,782 | $70K | 12.4% | 2.9% | 61% | B− |
| 926 | Atascadero CA | 29,464 | $91K | 11.4% | 4.6% | 21% | B− |
| 927 | Fremont NE | 28,350 | $71K | 11.6% | 4.2% | 43% | B− |
| 928 | Peekskill NY | 25,891 | $86K | 11.9% | 6.7% | 12% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,366 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Atascadero, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Atascadero and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Templeton (6%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Atascadero workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atascadero | – | B− | B+ | 23 min | $91,429 |
| Templeton | 6% | B+ | B | 21 min | $117,063 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Atascadero’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 Atascadero: questions
What is the median household income in Atascadero?
$91,429 (±$6,847) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Atascadero?
11.4%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Atascadero?
23 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Atascadero work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Luis Obispo (17%, 15 mi), El Paso de Robles (Paso Robles) (9%, 10 mi), Templeton (6%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Atascadero walkable?
Atascadero is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Atascadero without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 17% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Atascadero, from the people who make the trip.
More of Atascadero
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.