Households in Bonny Doon have higher incomes than those in 94% of U.S. towns
16.2% of residents live below the poverty line, against 12.0% across California. The two grades for Bonny Doon are 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
Jobs and commuting in Bonny Doon: the gist
Bonny Doon makes and builds things
65% of the jobs based in Bonny Doon are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Bonny Doon residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 21%. The jobs ↓
Bonny Doon and Santa Cruz trade workers both ways
Santa Cruz is the top workplace for Bonny Doon residents (19%) and also where the most people who work in Bonny Doon come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Most jobs in Bonny Doon pay over $40,000 a year
81% of the jobs based in Bonny Doon pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
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 949 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Bonny Doon’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bonny Doon is better than 31% of U.S. towns, #641 of 847 in California. Household income holds Bonny Doon’s grade up ($144,813, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (8.0%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bonny Doon could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Bonny Doon makes things: 65% of its jobs are in goods
486 jobs are based in Bonny Doon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bonny Doon, 2013 → 2023: 248 → 486. 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 Bonny Doon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
19% of working residents work in Santa Cruz
Where Bonny Doon clocks in
19% of workers
10% 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.
Who works in Bonny Doon, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 928 residents head out to work, 21 work right here, and 465 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Bonny Doon on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.51 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.
About 40 minutes to work from Bonny Doon
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bonny Doon workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,183 commuters (the 23% 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 Bonny Doon’s workers travel
About 20% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Bonny Doon
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bonny Doon is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #423 of 847 in California. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 16.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 6.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,535 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 3.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 79% 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 Bonny Doon households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Bonny Doon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Bonny Doon is 3,213th among 4,698 U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,300
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Del Mar CA | 3,858 | $199K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Harmony Grove CA | 2,585 | $227K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Ross CA | 2,304 | $250K | 4.8% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,211 | Ridgeland SC | 3,818 | $63K | 26.8% | 2.5% | 9% | C |
| 3,212 | Oliver Springs TN | 3,433 | $51K | 17.0% | 4.6% | 3% | C |
| 3,213 | Bonny Doon CA | 3,149 | $145K | 16.2% | 8.0% | 2% | C |
| 3,214 | Sutter Creek CA | 2,701 | $88K | 7.1% | 9.4% | 4% | C |
| 3,215 | Eagle Grove IA | 3,653 | $63K | 30.2% | 1.1% | 30% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,698 | 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 Bonny Doon, the top three, the last and three more from California.
How Bonny Doon compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Bonny Doon workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonny Doon | – | C | A− | 40 min | $144,813 |
| Felton | under 2% | A− | B− | 26 min | $123,056 |
| Ben Lomond | under 2% | B− | A− | 33 min | $130,041 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Bonny Doon’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 Bonny Doon: questions
What is the median household income in Bonny Doon?
$144,813 (±$41,772) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bonny Doon?
16.2%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bonny Doon?
40 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bonny Doon work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Santa Cruz (19%, 7 mi), San Jose (10%, 25 mi), Scotts Valley (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bonny Doon walkable?
Bonny Doon is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 17% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bonny Doon without a car?
<1% 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 Bonny Doon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bonny Doon
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.