Colusa High School and Grounds · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Colusa has higher unemployment (10.3%) than 95% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Colusa D; getting around on foot earns it B. 4% of workers work from home, where California as a whole has 17%. About one in four work in Colusa; the top destination outside it is Williams (7%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Colusa apart on work
Colusa trades workers with the towns around it
Colusa has about as many jobs (2,505) as working residents (2,696), but they are mostly different people: 2,016 residents leave for work each day while 1,825 people come in. Only 27% of the jobs in Colusa are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Colusa 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 ↓
No single place dominates Colusa’s commute
The biggest draw, Williams, gets only 7% of working residents, and 51% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Colusa residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Few Colusa workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 17% across California. Almost everyone here travels to a job. 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.
How Colusa earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Colusa is better than 10% of U.S. towns, #777 of 847 in California. Household income holds Colusa’s grade up ($71,250, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Colusa could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The workday shuffle in and out of Colusa
On a workday 2,016 residents head out to work, 680 work right here, and 1,825 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 (0.93 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.
About 20 minutes each way, quicker than most of California
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Colusa workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,313 commuters (the 4% 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.
Out of Colusa to work: where people go
Where Colusa clocks in
7% of workers
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.
The 2,505 jobs based in Colusa
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Colusa, 2013 → 2023: 2,262 → 2,505. 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 Colusa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Colusa
About 26% 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.
For most of Colusa, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Colusa is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns, #600 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across California.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,409 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 7.4% of Colusa households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Colusa’s commuters take a bus or train.
Colusa and other U.S. towns of 4,600 to 8,800
| # | 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 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | La Habra Heights CA | 5,327 | $180K | 4.9% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,976 | Gilmer TX | 5,287 | $44K | 18.3% | 8.9% | 19% | D |
| 2,977 | Darlington SC | 6,075 | $34K | 30.2% | 7.1% | 14% | D |
| 2,978 | Colusa CA | 6,519 | $71K | 18.1% | 10.3% | 25% | D |
| 2,979 | Lamar CO | 7,588 | $53K | 21.3% | 4.8% | 49% | D |
| 2,980 | Sylvester GA | 5,430 | $58K | 27.9% | 6.1% | 18% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,218 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Colusa, 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 Colusa: questions
What is the median household income in Colusa?
$71,250 (±$10,525) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Colusa?
18.1%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Colusa?
20 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Colusa work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Williams (7%, 8 mi), Yuba City (4%, 20 mi), Sacramento (3%, 52 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Colusa walkable?
Colusa is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Colusa without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Colusa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Colusa
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.