Households in Clearlake Oaks have lower incomes than those in 98% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.2 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 17.5 in Los Angeles. The poverty rate is 21.4% (California 12.0%). Jobs and income earn Clearlake Oaks D−; getting around on foot earns it A+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Clearlake Oaks: the gist
Clearlake Oaks makes and builds things
68% of the jobs based in Clearlake Oaks are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Clearlake Oaks residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 16%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
36% 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 Clearlake Oaks are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 69 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; with 561 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Clearlake Oaks
On income, poverty and job access, Clearlake Oaks is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Clearlake Oaks’ grade.
Unemployment (18.0%) is left out: Clearlake Oaks’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Clearlake Oaks could be anywhere from D− to D.
Goods, not services: 68% of the jobs in Clearlake Oaks
507 jobs are based in Clearlake Oaks.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clearlake Oaks, 2013 → 2023: 175 → 507. 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 Clearlake Oaks’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The distance from Clearlake Oaks to work
About 36% 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.
From Clearlake Oaks, about 20 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clearlake Oaks workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 388 commuters (the 16% 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.
How a workday changes Clearlake Oaks
On a workday 526 residents head out to work, 35 work right here, and 472 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.
14% of working residents work in Clearlake
Where Clearlake Oaks clocks in
14% of workers
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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Clearlake Oaks
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clearlake Oaks is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Clearlake Oaks 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 461 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 89% 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 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 44% 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 Clearlake Oaks households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 15% of Clearlake Oaks’ commuters take a bus or train.
Clearlake Oaks and other U.S. towns of 1,500 to 3,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Baywood Park CA | 1,580 | $217K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Harmony Grove CA | 2,585 | $227K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | Del Rio CA | 1,508 | $250K | 0.0% | 2.2% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,540 | Escobares TX | 2,585 | $30K | 44.3% | 10.5% | 2% | D− |
| 5,541 | Hamilton Township MI | 1,814 | $45K | 32.0% | 21.9% | <1% | D− |
| 5,542 | Clearlake Oaks CA | 2,198 | $36K | 21.4% | 18.0% | 6% | D− |
| 5,543 | Greensboro AL | 2,195 | $27K | 42.1% | 5.8% | 17% | D− |
| 5,544 | Sulligent AL | 1,812 | $35K | 33.1% | 2.1% | 12% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,641 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Clearlake Oaks, 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 Clearlake Oaks: questions
What is the median household income in Clearlake Oaks?
$35,938 (±$10,014) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clearlake Oaks?
21.4%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clearlake Oaks?
20 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clearlake Oaks work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Clearlake (14%, 4 mi), Lakeport (5%, 14 mi), Santa Rosa (4%, 40 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clearlake Oaks walkable?
Clearlake Oaks is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 11.0 out of 20, and 45% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clearlake Oaks without a car?
15% 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 Clearlake Oaks, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clearlake Oaks
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.