Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY 3.0Exeter has higher unemployment (9.6%) than 93% of U.S. towns
At home: 3% of workers have no commute at all (California 17%). Jobs and income earn Exeter C; getting around on foot earns it B+. About one in ten work in Exeter itself; outside it, Visalia draws the most (27%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Exeter: the figures worth knowing
Exeter trades workers with the towns around it
Exeter has about as many jobs (3,797) as working residents (4,007), but they are mostly different people: 3,540 residents leave for work each day while 3,330 people come in. Only 12% of the jobs in Exeter are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Exeter and Visalia trade workers both ways
Visalia is the top workplace for Exeter residents (27%) and also where the most people who work in Exeter come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Exeter
56% of Exeter residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 31% of the jobs based in Exeter pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 88% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Exeter are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Exeter workers work from home
Only 3% 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.
Jobs & income in Exeter: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Exeter is better than 30% of U.S. towns, #650 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Exeter’s grade up (ahead of 58% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Exeter could be anywhere from C− to B−.
How a workday changes Exeter
On a workday 3,540 residents head out to work, 467 work right here, and 3,330 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 (0.95 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.
Commuting out of Exeter: the destinations
Where Exeter clocks in
27% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
The kinds of work in Exeter
3,797 jobs are based in Exeter.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Exeter, 2013 → 2023: 4,595 → 3,797. 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 Exeter’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Exeter: about 21 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Exeter workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,625 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.
Half of Exeter commutes less than 12 miles
About 24% 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.
Few in Exeter walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Exeter is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns, #533 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Exeter near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,752 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). 8.6% of Exeter households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Exeter’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000, Exeter ranks 2,210th of 2,878 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,208 | Malone NY | 11,677 | $68K | 17.5% | 3.0% | 47% | C |
| 2,209 | Madison Township OH | 11,118 | $58K | 13.9% | 5.3% | 5% | C |
| 2,210 | Exeter CA | 10,122 | $76K | 14.2% | 9.6% | 12% | C |
| 2,211 | Rantoul IL | 11,991 | $49K | 16.9% | 3.2% | 26% | C |
| 2,212 | Wilmington OH | 12,802 | $57K | 17.5% | 4.2% | 29% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Exeter, 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 Exeter: questions
What is the median household income in Exeter?
$75,769 (±$10,547) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Exeter?
14.2%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Exeter?
21 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Exeter work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Visalia (27%, 10 mi), Fresno (5%, 49 mi), Porterville (4%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Exeter walkable?
Exeter is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Exeter without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Exeter, from the people who make the trip.
More of Exeter
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.