Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Dos Palos has lower household incomes than 95% of U.S. towns
Dos Palos grades D− for jobs and income and A for walkability. 17.6% of residents are in poverty, next to 12.0% for California as a whole. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Dos Palos and work: the main findings
The four measures behind Dos Palos’ grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dos Palos is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #827 of 847 in California. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Dos Palos’ grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dos Palos could be anywhere from D− to C.
Dos Palos’ commute, mile by mile
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.
Who commutes out of Dos Palos, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,324 residents head out to work, 326 work right here, and 654 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,000 people are in Dos Palos on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.59 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.
9% of working residents work in Los Banos
Where Dos Palos clocks in
9% of workers
7% of workers
2% 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.
Inside Dos Palos’ 980 jobs
980 jobs are based in Dos Palos.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dos Palos, 2013 → 2023: 825 → 980. 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 Dos Palos’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 28 minutes from Dos Palos
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dos Palos workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,806 commuters (the 7% 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.
In Dos Palos, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dos Palos is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #181 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Dos Palos 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 1,948 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 35% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 53% 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). 18.3% of Dos Palos households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dos Palos’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Dos Palos compares with U.S. towns of 4,000 to 7,700
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 118 | La Habra Heights CA | 5,327 | $180K | 4.9% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,393 | Mansfield LA | 4,475 | $34K | 30.2% | 13.3% | 26% | D− |
| 3,394 | Osceola AR | 6,450 | $46K | 26.2% | 10.5% | 31% | D− |
| 3,395 | Dos Palos CA | 5,697 | $42K | 17.6% | 9.4% | 20% | D− |
| 3,396 | Linton IN | 5,245 | $45K | 17.3% | 13.3% | 22% | D− |
| 3,397 | Caro MI | 4,258 | $42K | 28.7% | 9.1% | 21% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,476 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Dos Palos, 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 Dos Palos: questions
What is the median household income in Dos Palos?
$42,367 (±$17,018) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dos Palos?
17.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dos Palos?
28 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dos Palos work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Los Banos (9%, 13 mi), Fresno (7%, 48 mi), Chowchilla (2%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dos Palos walkable?
Dos Palos is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.7 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dos Palos without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 18% of households have no car. 35% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dos Palos, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dos Palos
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.