Household incomes in Blue Lake trail those of 83% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Blue Lake are D for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. 16.1% of residents live below the poverty line; California has 12.0%. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Blue Lake stands out on work
The figures behind Blue Lake’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Blue Lake is better than 15% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Blue Lake’s grade up (ahead of 32% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($53,594, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (10.0%) is left out: Blue Lake’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Blue Lake could be anywhere from D to C+.
The daily trip from Blue Lake: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blue Lake workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 289 commuters (the 24% 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.
Who leaves Blue Lake for work, and who comes in
On a workday 303 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 190 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Blue Lake on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.63 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.
25% of working residents work in Eureka
Where Blue Lake clocks in
25% of workers
22% 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.
Blue Lake makes things: 31% of its jobs are in goods
196 jobs are based in Blue Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blue Lake, 2013 → 2023: 137 → 196. 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 Blue Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Blue Lake’s commute, mile by mile
About 23% 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.
In Blue Lake, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Blue Lake is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Blue Lake 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 380 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, 100% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 58% 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). 5.6% of Blue Lake households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Blue Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500, Blue Lake ranks 2,810th of 3,771 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Castle Hill CA | 1,026 | $250K | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| 15 | Acalanes Ridge CA | 1,006 | $181K | 1.5% | 7.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,808 | Orange NY | 1,347 | $60K | 12.7% | 1.8% | 5% | D |
| 2,809 | Harkers Island NC | 1,060 | $60K | 10.4% | 0.0% | 16% | D |
| 2,810 | Blue Lake CA | 1,144 | $54K | 16.1% | 10.0% | 2% | D |
| 2,811 | Jackson Township IL | 1,221 | $73K | 27.9% | 0.0% | <1% | D |
| 2,812 | Lakefield Township MI | 1,095 | $56K | 9.5% | 3.7% | 9% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Blue Lake, 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 Blue Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Blue Lake?
$53,594 (±$10,211) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blue Lake?
16.1%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blue Lake?
14 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blue Lake work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Eureka (25%, 10 mi), Arcata (22%, 4 mi), McKinleyville (7%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Blue Lake walkable?
Blue Lake is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.4 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Blue Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 100% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blue Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blue Lake
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.