Most of Clay commutes out: there are 0.1 jobs for every working resident
Measured by household income, Clay is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns. Clay has 55 jobs for 543 working residents. For jobs and income Clay is better than 66% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is near the bottom of U.S. towns (D−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Clay apart on work
Clay is a place people come home to
There are 55 jobs based in Clay, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Clay has about 810 people in it, 37% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Clay’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Clay is Sacramento, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (84) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Clay workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 35 minutes each way, against 29 across California. Over a year that’s about 268 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical 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; with 543 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Clay earns its Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Clay’s grade up ($102,847, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 35% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (7.0%) is left out: Clay’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Clay could be anywhere from C to A.
Who leaves Clay for work, and who comes in
On a workday 539 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 51 people come in from elsewhere.
About 810 people are in Clay on a workday afternoon, 37% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Miles to work from Clay
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.
Clay’s commute takes about 35 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clay workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 441 commuters (the 12% 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.
15% of working residents work in Sacramento
Where Clay clocks in
15% of workers
7% of workers
6% 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.
A place that makes things: 65% of Clay’s jobs are in goods
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clay, 2013 → 2023: 33 → 55. 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 Clay’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Clay is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clay is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Clay near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 502 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). 1.5% of Clay households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Clay’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800, Clay comes 1,094th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Castle Hill CA | 1,026 | $250K | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| 19 | Acalanes Ridge CA | 1,006 | $181K | 1.5% | 7.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,092 | La Vernia TX | 1,499 | $76K | 8.3% | 4.0% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,093 | Liberty Township PA | 1,413 | $93K | 4.3% | 1.3% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,094 | Clay CA | 1,302 | $103K | 6.8% | 7.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,095 | Cuartelez NM | 1,512 | $114K | 5.6% | 20.8% | 0% | B+ |
| 1,096 | Cottage City MD | 1,329 | $81K | 15.0% | 6.6% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Clay, 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 Clay: questions
What is the median household income in Clay?
$102,847 (±$38,833) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clay?
6.8%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clay?
35 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clay work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sacramento (15%, 24 mi), Galt (7%, 8 mi), Elk Grove (6%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clay walkable?
Clay is near the bottom of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clay without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clay, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clay
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.