Photo: Oleg Alexandrov · CC BY-SA 3.0Almost no one in Calistoga’s labor force is looking for work
For jobs and income Calistoga is better than 83% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (A). Home is the office for 8% of workers; California has 17%. Household incomes here are higher than in 63% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Calistoga
Calistoga trades workers with the towns around it
Calistoga has about as many jobs (2,057) as working residents (2,274), but they are mostly different people: 1,683 residents leave for work each day while 1,466 people come in. Only 29% of the jobs in Calistoga are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Calistoga are quick
The average trip to work takes 24 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. 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.
The four measures behind Calistoga’s grade
Unemployment is its strongest input (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 51% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Calistoga could be anywhere from B to A.
The daily commute in and out of Calistoga
On a workday 1,683 residents head out to work, 591 work right here, and 1,466 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 (0.90 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.
Getting to work from Calistoga takes about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Calistoga workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,362 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.
Commuting out of Calistoga: the destinations
Where Calistoga clocks in
4% of workers
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.
Most jobs in Calistoga are in services
2,057 jobs are based in Calistoga.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Calistoga, 2013 → 2023: 1,648 → 2,057. 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 Calistoga’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Calistoga, by distance
About 24% 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: Calistoga
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,554 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 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). 5.7% of Calistoga households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Calistoga’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Calistoga ranks: 669th of 3,692 U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Del Mar CA | 3,858 | $199K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 72 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 81 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 667 | Union Beach NJ | 5,708 | $119K | 3.0% | 7.1% | 4% | A− |
| 668 | Pin Oak Township IL | 4,533 | $169K | 1.9% | 6.4% | 3% | A− |
| 669 | Calistoga CA | 4,954 | $85K | 5.6% | 0.0% | 26% | A− |
| 670 | Elk Ridge UT | 4,969 | $143K | 1.9% | 4.1% | 2% | A− |
| 671 | Looking Glass Township IL | 6,427 | $92K | 7.3% | 1.6% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,692 | 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 Calistoga, 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 Calistoga: questions
What is the median household income in Calistoga?
$85,446 (±$30,295) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Calistoga?
5.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Calistoga?
24 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Calistoga work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Helena (8%, 8 mi), Santa Rosa (4%, 12 mi), Napa (3%, 25 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Calistoga walkable?
Calistoga is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.9 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Calistoga without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Calistoga, from the people who make the trip.
More of Calistoga
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.