Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Scooterboss assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Avila Beach earn more than in almost any other U.S. town
Measured by household income, Avila Beach is among the highest-earning towns in the country. 4.8% of residents live below the poverty line, where California as a whole has 12.0%. Avila Beach grades A for jobs and income and A+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Avila Beach: the figures worth knowing
Home offices are common in Avila Beach
57% of Avila Beach workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Avila Beach than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Avila Beach fell from 3,226 in 2013 to 740 in 2023, −77%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Avila Beach and San Luis Obispo trade workers both ways
San Luis Obispo is the top workplace for Avila Beach residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Avila Beach come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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; with 473 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Avila Beach’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Avila Beach is better than 91% of U.S. towns. Household income is its strongest input ($218,259, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 56% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Avila Beach’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Avila Beach could be anywhere from C to A+.
Avila Beach’s commute takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Avila Beach workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 237 commuters (the 57% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Avila Beach
740 jobs are based in Avila Beach.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Avila Beach, 2013 → 2023: 3,226 → 740. 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 Avila Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Avila Beach’s workforce comes from
Where Avila Beach clocks in
32% of workers
4% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Avila Beach
On a workday 466 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 733 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Avila Beach on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
1.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
How far it is to work from Avila Beach
About 32% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Avila Beach
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Avila Beach is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Avila Beach near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 548 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 89% 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 1.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 64% 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). 0.0% of Avila Beach households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Avila Beach’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Avila Beach ranks: 229th of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Castle Hill CA | 1,026 | $250K | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| 19 | Acalanes Ridge CA | 1,006 | $181K | 1.5% | 7.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 227 | Pike Township PA | 1,632 | $106K | 3.6% | 0.5% | 1% | A |
| 228 | Burritt Township IL | 1,097 | $101K | 0.0% | 6.8% | <1% | A |
| 229 | Avila Beach CA | 1,303 | $218K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| 230 | Colwich KS | 1,445 | $88K | 1.3% | 7.1% | 4% | A |
| 231 | Richfield Township OH | 1,581 | $101K | 1.4% | 6.4% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Avila Beach, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Work in the towns next to Avila Beach
The biggest share goes to Pismo Beach (4%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Avila Beach workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avila Beach | – | A | A+ | 21 min | $218,259 |
| Pismo Beach | 4% | B+ | A− | 23 min | $118,072 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Avila Beach’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 Avila Beach: questions
What is the median household income in Avila Beach?
$218,259 (±$162,989) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Avila Beach?
4.8%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Avila Beach?
21 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 57% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Avila Beach work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Luis Obispo (32%, 6 mi), Pismo Beach (4%, 4 mi), Los Angeles (4%, 155 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Avila Beach walkable?
Avila Beach is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 11.1 out of 20, and 16% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Avila Beach without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Avila Beach, from the people who make the trip.
More of Avila Beach
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.