Photo: Coolcaesar at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in Gonzales (3.5%) than in 61% of U.S. towns
Gonzales grades B for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 2% of workers, against 17% across California. Only 8% work in Gonzales; the top destination outside it is Salinas (23%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Gonzales in brief
Gonzales makes and builds things
54% of the jobs based in Gonzales are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Gonzales residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 35%. The jobs ↓
Gonzales and Salinas trade workers both ways
Salinas is the top workplace for Gonzales residents (23%) and also where the most people who work in Gonzales come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Gonzales workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 17% across California. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Gonzales than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Gonzales fell from 3,018 in 2013 to 1,971 in 2023, −35%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
36% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Gonzales
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Gonzales is better than 62% of U.S. towns, #384 of 847 in California. The poverty rate holds Gonzales’ grade up (6.4%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Gonzales could be anywhere from C to A.
54% of the jobs in Gonzales make or build things
1,971 jobs are based in Gonzales.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Gonzales, 2013 → 2023: 3,018 → 1,971. 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 Gonzales’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Out of Gonzales to work: where people go
Where Gonzales clocks in
23% of workers
7% 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.
Getting to work from Gonzales takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Gonzales workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,759 commuters (the 2% 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.
The distance from Gonzales to work
About 36% 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.
Who commutes out of Gonzales, and who commutes in
On a workday 2,368 residents head out to work, 198 work right here, and 1,773 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 (0.77 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Gonzales
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Gonzales is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #456 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.3% 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 3,833 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 86% 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). 4.7% of Gonzales households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Gonzales’ commuters take a bus or train.
Gonzales places 1,398th of 3,012 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 5,800 to 11,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,396 | Heath OH | 10,859 | $72K | 8.6% | 3.7% | 11% | B |
| 1,397 | South Union Township PA | 10,300 | $78K | 8.3% | 3.1% | 11% | B |
| 1,398 | Gonzales CA | 8,313 | $78K | 6.4% | 3.5% | 8% | B |
| 1,399 | Locust NC | 6,120 | $77K | 8.7% | 3.6% | 4% | B |
| 1,400 | Carnegie PA | 7,777 | $68K | 11.7% | 3.5% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,012 | 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 Gonzales, 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 Gonzales: questions
What is the median household income in Gonzales?
$77,672 (±$15,128) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Gonzales?
6.4%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Gonzales?
27 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Gonzales work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Salinas (23%, 17 mi), San Jose (7%, 58 mi), Soledad (5%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Gonzales walkable?
Gonzales is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Gonzales without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Gonzales, from the people who make the trip.
More of Gonzales
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.