Photo: Eggsy-B · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Clearlake earn less than those in 95% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.7 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 17.5 in Los Angeles. Below the poverty line: 25.5% of residents; California has 12.0%. Clearlake grades D− for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Clearlake at work: what stands out
How Clearlake earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Clearlake is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #839 of 847 in California. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Clearlake’s grade.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Clearlake stays D−.
6% of working residents work in Lakeport
Where Clearlake clocks in
6% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Clearlake
On a workday 3,259 residents head out to work, 1,085 work right here, and 1,793 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.
0.66 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.
What Clearlake’s employers do
2,878 jobs are based in Clearlake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clearlake, 2013 → 2023: 2,456 → 2,878. 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’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Clearlake spends getting to work: about 33 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clearlake workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,584 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.
The distance from Clearlake to work
About 29% 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.
In Clearlake, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clearlake is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns, #206 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Clearlake 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 5,221 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 87% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 50% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 54% 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). 8.8% of Clearlake households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Clearlake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Clearlake next to U.S. towns of 12,000 to 23,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Orinda CA | 19,507 | $250K | 2.2% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Alamo CA | 14,488 | $250K | 2.1% | 3.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 121 | Coto de Caza CA | 15,190 | $244K | 3.0% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,996 | Forrest City AR | 12,308 | $36K | 37.7% | 13.5% | 41% | D− |
| 1,997 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | D− |
| 1,998 | Clearlake CA | 16,893 | $42K | 25.5% | 14.8% | 25% | D− |
| 1,999 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Work in the towns next to Clearlake
The biggest share goes to Lower Lake (4%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Clearlake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clearlake | – | D− | A | 33 min | $41,867 |
| Lower Lake | 4% | — | — | 23 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Lower Lake: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Clearlake’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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: questions
What is the median household income in Clearlake?
$41,867 (±$4,414) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clearlake?
25.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clearlake?
33 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clearlake work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lakeport (6%, 16 mi), Santa Rosa (5%, 36 mi), Lower Lake (4%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clearlake walkable?
Clearlake is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.7 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clearlake without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 50% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clearlake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clearlake
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.