Photo: Frank Schulenburg · CC BY-SA 4.0More people are out of work in Durham (6.7%) than in 80% of U.S. towns
Durham grades C+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 73% of U.S. towns. Commuters spend 18 minutes getting to work on average; California averages 29, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Durham, in a few figures
Durham trades workers with the towns around it
Durham has about as many jobs (2,131) as working residents (2,133), but they are mostly different people: 1,872 residents leave for work each day while 1,870 people come in. Only 12% of the jobs in Durham are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Durham and Chico trade workers both ways
Chico is the top workplace for Durham residents (39%) and also where the most people who work in Durham come from (34% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Durham are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
Durham makes and builds things
44% of the jobs based in Durham are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Durham residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 22%. The jobs ↓
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.
Durham’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Durham is better than 45% of U.S. towns, #548 of 847 in California. Household income holds Durham’s grade up ($95,417, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Durham could be anywhere from C− to A.
Who works in Durham, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,872 residents head out to work, 261 work right here, and 1,870 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 (1.00 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.
39% of working residents work in Chico
Where Durham clocks in
39% 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.
A commute of about 18 minutes in Durham
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Durham workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,711 commuters (the 17% 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.
Making and building: 44% of jobs based in Durham
2,131 jobs are based in Durham.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Durham, 2013 → 2023: 1,685 → 2,131. 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 Durham’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Durham’s commute, mile by mile
About 22% 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.
Driving is how Durham gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Durham is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns, #609 of 847 in California. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 5.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,057 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 2.4% of Durham households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Durham’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,700 to 7,200, Durham ranks 2,187th of 3,651 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Del Mar CA | 3,858 | $199K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 75 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 84 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,185 | Union Township PA | 5,518 | $61K | 15.0% | 4.1% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,186 | Lake Wildwood CA | 4,792 | $86K | 8.2% | 4.0% | 3% | C+ |
| 2,187 | Durham CA | 5,340 | $95K | 10.2% | 6.7% | 12% | C+ |
| 2,188 | Winter Beach FL | 4,985 | $92K | 9.0% | 7.7% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,189 | Devine TX | 4,652 | $38K | 18.6% | 0.0% | 13% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,651 | 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 Durham, the top three, the last and three more from California.
39% of Durham works in a town next door
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Chico. Darker towns draw more of Durham’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 Durham: questions
What is the median household income in Durham?
$95,417 (±$29,487) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Durham?
10.2%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Durham?
18 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Durham work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chico (39%, 9 mi), Oroville (7%, 16 mi), Yuba City (2%, 36 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Durham walkable?
Durham is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Durham without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Durham, from the people who make the trip.
More of Durham
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.