Few U.S. towns have unemployment as high as Boron’s 19.5%
8% of workers have no commute at all, where California as a whole has 17%. Boron grades D− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Measured by household income, Boron is behind 84% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Boron, in a few figures
Boron makes and builds things
75% of the jobs based in Boron are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Boron residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 25%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
44% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
The jobs in Boron pay better than its residents’ jobs
83% of the jobs based in Boron pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 54% of the jobs Boron residents hold. 82% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Boron. 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 643 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Boron earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Boron is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #842 of 847 in California. Household income holds Boron’s grade up ($53,170, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Boron could be anywhere from D− to D.
Factories, building and farms: 75% of the jobs in Boron
901 jobs are based in Boron.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Boron, 2013 → 2023: 1,118 → 901. 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 Boron’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Boron
About 44% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Boron
On a workday 481 residents head out to work, 162 work right here, and 739 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,000 people are in Boron on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.40 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
5% of working residents work in Los Angeles
Where Boron clocks in
5% 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.
About 23 minutes each way for Boron’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Boron workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 838 commuters (the 8% 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.
Most of Boron commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Boron is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns, #781 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across California.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 906 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 54% 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 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 53% 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). 9.6% of Boron households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Boron’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Boron sits among U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Harmony Grove CA | 2,585 | $227K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 81 | Ross CA | 2,304 | $250K | 4.8% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | Fairbanks Ranch CA | 2,703 | $250K | 5.5% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,746 | Van Buren ME | 1,985 | $40K | 23.0% | 0.3% | 33% | D− |
| 4,747 | Hillman Township MI | 2,151 | $43K | 24.4% | 3.7% | 19% | D− |
| 4,748 | Boron CA | 2,698 | $53K | 35.5% | 19.5% | 25% | D− |
| 4,749 | Jasper FL | 3,444 | $50K | 34.1% | 7.2% | 7% | D− |
| 4,750 | Houston MO | 2,281 | $40K | 30.0% | 8.8% | 32% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,797 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Boron, 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 Boron: questions
What is the median household income in Boron?
$53,170 (±$17,163) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Boron?
35.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Boron?
23 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Boron work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Los Angeles (5%, 82 mi), North Edwards (5%, 8 mi), Bakersfield (4%, 80 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Boron walkable?
Boron is more walkable than 30% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Boron without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Boron, from the people who make the trip.
More of Boron
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.