Bourn-Roth Estate · Photo: Sukuru · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Emerald Lake Hills earn more than in almost any other U.S. town
4.6% of residents live below the poverty line, against 12.0% across California. Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. The two grades for Emerald Lake Hills are A+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Emerald Lake Hills
A lot of Emerald Lake Hills works from home
41% of Emerald Lake Hills workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
Four in five Emerald Lake Hills workers earn over $40,000 a year
83% of Emerald Lake Hills’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs based in Emerald Lake Hills itself pay less: 65% are in that band. The jobs ↓
Emerald Lake Hills is a place people come home to
There are 380 jobs based in Emerald Lake Hills, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Emerald Lake Hills has about 2,800 people in it, 33% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Emerald Lake Hills makes and builds things
42% of the jobs based in Emerald Lake Hills are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Emerald Lake Hills residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 14%. The jobs ↓
Emerald Lake Hills’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Emerald Lake Hills is San Francisco, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (180) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
The figures behind Emerald Lake Hills’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Emerald Lake Hills is better than 97% of U.S. towns, #10 of 847 in California. Household income is its strongest input ($250,000+, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (2.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
The Census reports Emerald Lake Hills’ median household income as $250,000+, the top of its scale; the grade ranks it as tied with the 111 other graded places at that ceiling.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Emerald Lake Hills could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Commuting from Emerald Lake Hills: about 27 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Emerald Lake Hills workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,245 commuters (the 41% 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.
Goods, not services: 42% of the jobs in Emerald Lake Hills
380 jobs are based in Emerald Lake Hills.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Emerald Lake Hills, 2014 → 2024: 206 → 380. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Emerald Lake Hills’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Emerald Lake Hills: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,758 residents head out to work, 37 work right here, and 343 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,800 people are in Emerald Lake Hills on a workday afternoon, 33% fewer than live here.
0.21 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 2024, primary jobs.
Near or far: the trip to work from Emerald Lake Hills
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
10% of working residents work in San Francisco
Where Emerald Lake Hills clocks in
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Emerald Lake Hills
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Emerald Lake Hills is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #437 of 847 in California. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,105 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). 0.8% of Emerald Lake Hills households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Emerald Lake Hills’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Emerald Lake Hills is 132nd among 3,962 U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Del Mar CA | 3,858 | $199K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 130 | Pleasant Township KS | 5,459 | $113K | 0.8% | 1.2% | 3% | A+ |
| 131 | West Amwell Township NJ | 3,037 | $151K | 2.4% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| 132 | Emerald Lake Hills CA | 4,235 | $250K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 2% | A+ |
| 133 | Somerford Township OH | 3,078 | $117K | 3.5% | 1.0% | 4% | A+ |
| 134 | Vineyards FL | 3,849 | $131K | 2.5% | 1.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,962 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Emerald Lake Hills, the top three, the last and three more from California.
The towns around Emerald Lake Hills
The biggest share goes to Redwood City (9%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Emerald Lake Hills workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emerald Lake Hills | – | A+ | A− | 27 min | $250,000+ |
| Redwood City | 9% | A | A | 24 min | $157,814 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Emerald Lake Hills’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 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- A ceiling on income. The Census stops at $250,000+, so the true median may be higher.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Emerald Lake Hills: questions
What is the median household income in Emerald Lake Hills?
$250,000+ (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Emerald Lake Hills?
4.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Emerald Lake Hills?
27 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 41% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Emerald Lake Hills work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Francisco (10%, 23 mi), Redwood City (9%, 4 mi), Palo Alto (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Emerald Lake Hills walkable?
Emerald Lake Hills is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Emerald Lake Hills without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Emerald Lake Hills, from the people who make the trip.
More of Emerald Lake Hills
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.