Photo: LokiBoone · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Dunsmuir works elsewhere
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles. Employers in Dunsmuir report 253 jobs; 605 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Dunsmuir is better than 14% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Dunsmuir in brief
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Dunsmuir
The poverty rate holds Dunsmuir’s grade up (11.4%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (9.8%) is left out: Dunsmuir’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, Dunsmuir could be anywhere from D− to C.
Time on the road from Dunsmuir: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dunsmuir workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 531 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.
The daily commute in and out of Dunsmuir
On a workday 498 residents head out to work, 107 work right here, and 146 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Dunsmuir on a workday afternoon, 22% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
16% of working residents work in Mount Shasta
Where Dunsmuir clocks in
9% of workers
6% 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Dunsmuir
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dunsmuir, 2013 → 2023: 215 → 253. 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 Dunsmuir’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Dunsmuir commutes less than 15 miles
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.
In Dunsmuir, walking beats the bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 571 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 94% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 57% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 47% 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). 11.7% of Dunsmuir households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dunsmuir’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,794 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100, Dunsmuir comes 4,515th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Baywood Park CA | 1,580 | $217K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Irwindale CA | 1,439 | $114K | 4.3% | 6.5% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,513 | Woodville CA | 1,460 | $55K | 19.2% | 14.5% | 3% | D |
| 4,514 | Mount Vernon AL | 1,385 | $46K | 17.8% | 2.7% | 2% | D |
| 4,515 | Dunsmuir CA | 1,587 | $58K | 11.4% | 9.8% | 18% | D |
| 4,516 | Osborne KS | 1,249 | $52K | 9.3% | 1.1% | 24% | D |
| 4,517 | West Plains Township KS | 1,113 | $72K | 17.9% | 2.7% | 14% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Dunsmuir, 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 Dunsmuir: questions
What is the median household income in Dunsmuir?
$58,281 (±$11,528) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dunsmuir?
11.4%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dunsmuir?
21 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dunsmuir work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mount Shasta (16%, 7 mi), Redding (9%, 46 mi), Weed (6%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dunsmuir walkable?
Dunsmuir is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.3 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dunsmuir without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 57% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dunsmuir, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dunsmuir
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.