Unemployment in East Niles (12.6%) is higher than in 98% of U.S. towns
East Niles grades C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Measured by household income, East Niles is behind 81% of U.S. towns. For 4% of workers, the job is at home; California has 17%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in East Niles, in brief
East Niles and Bakersfield trade workers both ways
Bakersfield is the top workplace for East Niles residents (38%) and also where the most people who work in East Niles come from (46% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
East Niles makes and builds things
44% of the jobs based in East Niles are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs East Niles residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 25%. The jobs ↓
Few East Niles 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in East Niles
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, East Niles is better than 16% of U.S. towns, #747 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds East Niles’ grade up (ahead of 75% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, East Niles could be anywhere from D to C−.
38% of working residents work in Bakersfield
Where East Niles clocks in
38% 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.
A place that makes things: 44% of East Niles’ jobs are in goods
4,279 jobs are based in East Niles.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in East Niles, 2013 → 2023: 3,764 → 4,279. 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 East Niles’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long East Niles spends getting to work: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of East Niles workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 9,506 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.
Who leaves East Niles for work, and who comes in
On a workday 9,066 residents head out to work, 534 work right here, and 3,745 people come in from elsewhere.
About 23,000 people are in East Niles on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.45 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from East Niles
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.
Driving is how East Niles gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, East Niles is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns, #548 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.7% 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 9,850 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 80% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 33% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 81% 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). 5.8% of East Niles households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of East Niles’ commuters take a bus or train.
Where East Niles sits among U.S. towns of 20,000 to 39,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 121 | Lafayette CA | 25,313 | $228K | 2.9% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,400 | Pascagoula MS | 21,409 | $52K | 24.4% | 7.6% | 43% | C− |
| 1,401 | West Pensacola FL | 20,665 | $41K | 25.8% | 6.7% | 5% | C− |
| 1,402 | East Niles CA | 28,532 | $55K | 28.7% | 12.6% | 6% | C− |
| 1,403 | Ashland KY | 20,996 | $53K | 22.4% | 7.7% | 39% | C− |
| 1,404 | Wasco CA | 26,525 | $52K | 18.4% | 7.0% | 17% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,467 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 East Niles, the top three, the last and three more from California.
38% of East Niles works in a town next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | East Niles workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Niles | – | C− | B+ | 25 min | $55,124 |
| Bakersfield | 38% | C+ | B+ | 24 min | $80,540 |
| Bakersfield Country Club | under 1% | A− | B+ | 21 min | $102,266 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Bakersfield. Darker towns draw more of East Niles’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 East Niles: questions
What is the median household income in East Niles?
$55,124 (±$6,974) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in East Niles?
28.7%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from East Niles?
25 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in East Niles work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bakersfield (38%, 7 mi), Los Angeles (3%, 98 mi), Oildale (3%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is East Niles walkable?
East Niles is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 11.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around East Niles without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 33% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from East Niles, from the people who make the trip.
More of East Niles
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.