Photo: en:User:Epolk Eric Polk · CC BY-SA 2.5Few U.S. towns have unemployment as high as Brawley’s 15.5%
About one in four stay in Brawley for work; outside it, El Centro is the main destination (13%, 13 miles). Brawley grades D for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Household incomes here are lower than in 75% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Brawley, in brief
Commutes from Brawley are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% 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 ↓
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.
The figures behind Brawley’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brawley is better than 9% of U.S. towns, #793 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Brawley’s grade up (ahead of 37% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brawley could be anywhere from D to C−.
About 18 minutes each way, quicker than most of California
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brawley workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,386 commuters (the 11% 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.
Brawley’s commute, mile by mile
About 33% 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.
How many people are in Brawley by day
On a workday 7,859 residents head out to work, 2,792 work right here, and 4,085 people come in from elsewhere.
About 24,000 people are in Brawley on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.65 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.
Where people from Brawley work
Where Brawley clocks in
13% of workers
5% of workers
5% 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.
Goods jobs make up 31% of work in Brawley
6,877 jobs are based in Brawley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brawley, 2013 → 2023: 7,442 → 6,877. 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 Brawley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Brawley
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 9,430 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 8.3% of Brawley households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Brawley’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 20,000 to 38,000, and where Brawley sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 116 | Lafayette CA | 25,313 | $228K | 2.9% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,397 | Greenwood SC | 22,745 | $41K | 21.6% | 8.7% | 28% | D |
| 1,398 | Clovis NM | 37,127 | $55K | 21.7% | 8.8% | 51% | D |
| 1,399 | Brawley CA | 28,008 | $59K | 21.3% | 15.5% | 26% | D |
| 1,400 | Columbus MS | 22,792 | $42K | 21.3% | 8.7% | 40% | D |
| 1,401 | Jamestown NY | 27,663 | $44K | 25.3% | 9.0% | 34% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,409 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Brawley, 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 Brawley: questions
What is the median household income in Brawley?
$59,311 (±$6,287) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brawley?
21.3%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brawley?
18 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brawley work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are El Centro (13%, 13 mi), Calipatria (5%, 13 mi), San Diego (5%, 93 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brawley walkable?
Brawley is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brawley without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brawley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brawley
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.