Photo: Stepheng3 · Public domainBolinas has higher household incomes than 77% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Bolinas are C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 9.1% of residents are in poverty (California 12.0%). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 37.5 in San Francisco.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Bolinas: the gist
Bolinas and San Francisco trade workers both ways
San Francisco is the top workplace for Bolinas residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Bolinas come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A lot of Bolinas works from home
28% of Bolinas workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
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 395 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Bolinas’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Bolinas is better than 42% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Bolinas’ grade up ($100,625, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (2.6%) is left out: Bolinas’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, Bolinas could be anywhere from D− to B+.
17% of working residents work in San Francisco
Where Bolinas clocks in
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.
About 32 minutes each way for Bolinas’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bolinas workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 451 commuters (the 28% 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 Bolinas by day
On a workday 342 residents head out to work, 53 work right here, and 178 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Bolinas on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.58 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.
Inside Bolinas’ 231 jobs
231 jobs are based in Bolinas.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bolinas, 2013 → 2023: 288 → 231. 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 Bolinas’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Bolinas
About 17% 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 Bolinas, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bolinas is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 18.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 624 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 1.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 65% 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 Bolinas households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 9% of Bolinas’ commuters take a bus or train.
Bolinas places 2,339th of 5,400 on jobs and income among 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,337 | North Bennington VT | 1,688 | $69K | 7.4% | 7.0% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,338 | Pike Township IN | 1,161 | $88K | 8.9% | 9.9% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,339 | Bolinas CA | 1,334 | $101K | 9.1% | 2.6% | 13% | C+ |
| 2,340 | El Valle de Arroyo Seco NM | 1,293 | $68K | 6.5% | 0.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,341 | Dale IN | 1,517 | $62K | 7.6% | 3.0% | 11% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Bolinas, 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 Bolinas: questions
What is the median household income in Bolinas?
$100,625 (±$57,069) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bolinas?
9.1%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bolinas?
32 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 28% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bolinas work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Francisco (17%, 18 mi), Stinson Beach (6%, 3 mi), Oakland (3%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bolinas walkable?
Bolinas is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 18% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bolinas without a car?
9% 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 Bolinas, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bolinas
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.