Photo: Amin Eshaiker · CC BY-SA 4.0Calipatria has 1.3 jobs for every working resident: 1,712 people commute in to work
Jobs & income D: better than 6% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #813 of 847 in California.
Walkability C+: more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns · #739 of 847 in California.
Household incomes here are lower than in 84% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 15 minutes each way (California 29, U.S. 26). Only 5% work in Calipatria; the top destination outside it is San Diego (8%, 98 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Calipatria
A big share show a job far from home
69% 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 ↓
Commutes from Calipatria are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
The jobs in Calipatria pay better than its residents’ jobs
85% of the jobs based in Calipatria pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 51% of the jobs Calipatria residents hold. 96% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Calipatria. The jobs ↓
Calipatria’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Calipatria is San Diego, 98 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (109) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Nearly all the work in Calipatria is services
90% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 6% are in factories, building or farms. 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.
What’s behind Calipatria’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Calipatria is better than 6% of U.S. towns, #813 of 847 in California. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Calipatria’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Calipatria could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Half of Calipatria commutes less than 98 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 69% 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.
About 15 minutes each way, quicker than most of California
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Calipatria workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,207 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
1,785 jobs are based in Calipatria. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Calipatria’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Calipatria, 2013 → 2023: 2,088 → 1,785. 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 1,275 residents head out to work, 73 work right here, and 1,712 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.32 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.
8% of working residents work in San Diego
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Calipatria clocks in
8% of workers
6% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Most trips from Calipatria start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Calipatria is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns, #739 of 847 in California. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 4.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,295 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 0.0 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). 9.7% of Calipatria households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Calipatria’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Calipatria compares with U.S. towns of 4,200 to 8,100
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Calipatria, the top three, the last and three more from California.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,263 | Du Quoin IL | 5,569 | $54K | 29.6% | 11.1% | 21% | D |
| 3,264 | Richlands VA | 5,051 | $37K | 30.2% | 5.5% | 14% | D |
| 3,265 | Calipatria CA | 6,012 | $53K | 25.5% | 7.3% | 5% | D |
| 3,266 | Glennville GA | 5,023 | $53K | 19.1% | 9.9% | 18% | D |
| 3,267 | Walhalla SC | 4,320 | $36K | 45.9% | 6.5% | 11% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,394 | Medina TX | 4,226 | $22K | 53.8% | 10.1% | 4% | 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.
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 Calipatria: questions
What is the median household income in Calipatria?
$53,299 (±$10,641) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Calipatria?
25.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Calipatria?
15 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Calipatria work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Diego (8%, 98 mi), Brawley (6%, 13 mi), Los Angeles (6%, 178 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Calipatria walkable?
Calipatria is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Calipatria 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 Calipatria, from the people who make the trip.
More of Calipatria
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.