Photo: Don Ramey Logan · CC BY-SA 4.0Hardly anyone in Avalon is out of work
9% of workers have no commute at all, against 17% across California. Avalon grades B for jobs and income and A for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 81% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Avalon, in a few figures
Commutes from Avalon are quick
The average trip to work takes 12 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 130 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
Avalon’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Avalon is Los Angeles, 47 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (165) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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.
Income, poverty and work: Avalon’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Avalon is better than 61% of U.S. towns, #400 of 847 in California. Unemployment holds Avalon’s grade up (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 5% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Avalon could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
About 12 minutes to work from Avalon
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Avalon workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,678 commuters (the 9% 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 Avalon, by distance
About 28% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Avalon
On a workday 825 residents head out to work, 564 work right here, and 1,022 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 (1.14 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.
12% of working residents work in Los Angeles
Where Avalon clocks in
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.
Most jobs in Avalon are in services
1,586 jobs are based in Avalon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Avalon, 2013 → 2023: 1,486 → 1,586. 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 Avalon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Avalon is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Avalon is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #285 of 847 in California. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 48.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 7.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,850 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 24.7% of Avalon households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Avalon’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,677th of 4,453: where Avalon ranks among U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Del Mar CA | 3,858 | $199K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 41 | Harmony Grove CA | 2,585 | $227K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Ross CA | 2,304 | $250K | 4.8% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,675 | North Manheim Township PA | 4,234 | $88K | 4.4% | 6.4% | 7% | B |
| 1,676 | Royalton VT | 2,692 | $104K | 13.0% | 0.3% | 18% | B |
| 1,677 | Avalon CA | 3,237 | $105K | 11.5% | 0.0% | 41% | B |
| 1,678 | Crestview Hills KY | 3,301 | $95K | 11.7% | 6.0% | 4% | B |
| 1,679 | Bethel Acres OK | 3,301 | $76K | 11.3% | 2.3% | 2% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,453 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Avalon, 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 Avalon: questions
What is the median household income in Avalon?
$105,139 (±$27,326) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Avalon?
11.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Avalon?
12 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Avalon work?
41% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Los Angeles (12%, 47 mi), Long Beach (2%, 31 mi), Irvine (2%, 39 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Avalon walkable?
Avalon is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 48% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Avalon without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 25% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Avalon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Avalon
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.