Bell Gardens has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
Employers in Bell Gardens report 6,912 jobs, against 13,713 working residents. Bell Gardens grades C+ for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 3.6 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 17.5 in Los Angeles.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Bell Gardens, in brief
The figures behind Bell Gardens’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bell Gardens is better than 40% of U.S. towns, #581 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Bell Gardens’ grade up (among the top U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (20.0%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bell Gardens could be anywhere from C to B−.
23% of working residents work in Los Angeles
Where Bell Gardens clocks in
4% of workers
3% 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 flow of workers through Bell Gardens
On a workday 13,051 residents head out to work, 662 work right here, and 6,250 people come in from elsewhere.
About 31,000 people are in Bell Gardens on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
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 Bell Gardens
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bell Gardens, 2013 → 2023: 8,181 → 6,912. 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 Bell Gardens’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Bell Gardens: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bell Gardens workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 15,186 commuters (the 6% 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 far Bell Gardens goes to work
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.
Bell Gardens is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bell Gardens is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns, #79 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Bell Gardens 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 16,086 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 44% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 78% 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). 10.1% of Bell Gardens households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Bell Gardens’ commuters take a bus or train.
Bell Gardens places 911th of 1,162 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 26,000 to 50,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 77 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 122 | Newark CA | 47,895 | $169K | 4.3% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 909 | Apache Junction AZ | 45,672 | $61K | 10.6% | 6.5% | 6% | C+ |
| 910 | Lancaster OH | 41,956 | $59K | 12.6% | 5.0% | 26% | C+ |
| 911 | Bell Gardens CA | 37,367 | $62K | 20.0% | 5.9% | 5% | C+ |
| 912 | Urbana IL | 39,719 | $45K | 28.0% | 4.7% | 20% | C+ |
| 913 | Cunningham Township IL | 39,719 | $45K | 28.0% | 4.7% | 20% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,162 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Bell Gardens, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Next door to Bell Gardens
The biggest share goes to Commerce (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bell Gardens workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bell Gardens | – | C+ | A+ | 28 min | $62,298 |
| Bell | under 2% | C | A+ | 30 min | $61,020 |
| Commerce | 4% | B+ | A+ | 27 min | $77,064 |
| Cudahy | under 2% | C | A | 31 min | $56,615 |
| Downey | 3% | B+ | A | 31 min | $90,699 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bell Gardens’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 Bell Gardens: questions
What is the median household income in Bell Gardens?
$62,298 (±$2,818) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bell Gardens?
20.0%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bell Gardens?
28 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bell Gardens work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Los Angeles (23%, 15 mi), Commerce (4%, 2 mi), Downey (3%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bell Gardens walkable?
Bell Gardens is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.5 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bell Gardens without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 44% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bell Gardens, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bell Gardens
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.