Photo: Pf1127 · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Delano (13.9%) is higher than in 98% of U.S. towns
About one in four work in Delano; the top destination outside it is Bakersfield (11%, 31 miles). For jobs and income Delano is better than 22% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (C+). 3% of workers have no commute at all (California 17%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Delano apart on work
Delano trades workers with the towns around it
Delano has about as many jobs (13,204) as working residents (14,636), but they are mostly different people: 10,422 residents leave for work each day while 8,990 people come in. Only 32% of the jobs in Delano are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Delano’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Delano is Bakersfield, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (1,581) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Few Delano workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 17% across California. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Delano are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 54 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.
Delano’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Job access by car holds Delano’s grade up (ahead of 56% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Delano could be anywhere from C− to C.
Who works in Delano, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 10,422 residents head out to work, 4,214 work right here, and 8,990 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.
How far it is to work from Delano
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.
About 22 minutes each way for Delano’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Delano workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 17,614 commuters (the 3% 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 places Delano commutes to
Where Delano clocks in
11% 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 kinds of work in Delano
13,204 jobs are based in Delano.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Delano, 2013 → 2023: 13,931 → 13,204. 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 Delano’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in Delano is mostly behind the wheel
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.9% 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 18,122 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 15% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 4% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 43% 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). 4.5% of Delano households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Delano’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Delano sits among U.S. towns of 37,000 to 71,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | Cupertino CA | 58,333 | $235K | 4.1% | 4.0% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | South San Francisco CA | 64,941 | $137K | 6.7% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Newark CA | 47,895 | $169K | 4.3% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 772 | Holyoke MA | 38,023 | $54K | 27.0% | 7.7% | 24% | C− |
| 773 | Schenectady NY | 69,471 | $58K | 23.8% | 8.7% | 20% | C− |
| 774 | Delano CA | 52,334 | $67K | 16.0% | 13.9% | 29% | C− |
| 775 | Lorain OH | 65,366 | $49K | 25.2% | 6.3% | 15% | C− |
| 776 | Lompoc CA | 43,315 | $72K | 17.3% | 7.0% | 22% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 837 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Delano, 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 Delano: questions
What is the median household income in Delano?
$67,010 (±$6,581) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Delano?
16.0%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Delano?
22 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Delano work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bakersfield (11%, 31 mi), Los Angeles (3%, 130 mi), McFarland (3%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Delano walkable?
Delano is more walkable than 44% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Delano without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 4% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Delano, from the people who make the trip.
More of Delano
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.