Nicholas Carriger Estate · Photo: Sanfranman59 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in El Verano earn more than those in 90% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 3.1% of residents; California has 12.0%. Jobs and income earn El Verano B+; getting around on foot earns it A. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.7 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 1.0 in Santa Rosa.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets El Verano apart on work
El Verano and Sonoma trade workers both ways
Sonoma is the top workplace for El Verano residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in El Verano come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
El Verano has added jobs fast
Jobs based in El Verano went from 331 in 2013 to 479 in 2023, +45%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: El Verano’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, El Verano is better than 72% of U.S. towns, #269 of 847 in California. The poverty rate holds El Verano’s grade up; unemployment pulls it down (6.3%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, El Verano could be anywhere from B to A+.
15% of working residents work in Sonoma
Where El Verano clocks in
15% of workers
8% of workers
5% 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.
31% of the jobs in El Verano make or build things
479 jobs are based in El Verano.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in El Verano, 2013 → 2023: 331 → 479. 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 El Verano’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves El Verano for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,417 residents head out to work, 62 work right here, and 417 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,400 people are in El Verano on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
0.32 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.
About 28 minutes each way for El Verano’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of El Verano workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,585 commuters (the 13% 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.
How many miles El Verano commutes
About 16% 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.
El Verano is easy on foot, hard by bus
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.8% 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 1,828 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 84% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 46% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 54% 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). 0.0% of El Verano households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of El Verano’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,402 U.S. towns of 2,400 to 4,600, El Verano comes 1,159th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Del Mar CA | 3,858 | $199K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Harmony Grove CA | 2,585 | $227K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,157 | Logan Township IL | 3,205 | $73K | 6.2% | 2.3% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,158 | Nahant MA | 3,331 | $113K | 8.9% | 5.9% | 7% | B+ |
| 1,159 | El Verano CA | 3,443 | $124K | 3.1% | 6.3% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,160 | Casselton ND | 2,485 | $73K | 7.1% | 0.9% | 19% | B+ |
| 1,161 | Elmwood Township IL | 2,454 | $91K | 8.7% | 2.0% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,402 | 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 El Verano, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Work next door: 17% of El Verano’s workers
The biggest share goes to Sonoma (15%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | El Verano workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Verano | – | B+ | A | 28 min | $123,738 |
| Boyes Hot Springs | 2% | B | A | 27 min | $101,288 |
| Sonoma | 15% | B− | A+ | 25 min | $98,527 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of El Verano’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 El Verano: questions
What is the median household income in El Verano?
$123,738 (±$7,579) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in El Verano?
3.1%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from El Verano?
28 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in El Verano work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sonoma (15%, 2 mi), Santa Rosa (8%, 16 mi), Napa (5%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is El Verano walkable?
El Verano is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around El Verano without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 46% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from El Verano, from the people who make the trip.
More of El Verano
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.