Most of Grover Beach commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Grover Beach grades B− for jobs and income and A for walkability. There are 2,746 jobs in Grover Beach for 5,270 working residents. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 5.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Grover Beach
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Grover Beach
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Grover Beach is better than 55% of U.S. towns, #463 of 847 in California. Household income holds Grover Beach’s grade up ($86,458, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (11.8%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Grover Beach could be anywhere from C to A−.
About 20 minutes each way for Grover Beach’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Grover Beach workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,327 commuters (the 15% 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 people are in Grover Beach by day
On a workday 4,875 residents head out to work, 395 work right here, and 2,351 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,900 people are in Grover Beach on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
19% of working residents work in San Luis Obispo
Where Grover Beach clocks in
19% of workers
10% 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 Grover Beach
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Grover Beach, 2013 → 2023: 2,749 → 2,746. 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 Grover Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Grover Beach, by distance
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.
Grover Beach is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Grover Beach is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #236 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.0% 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 6,246 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 30% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 84% 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). 2.6% of Grover Beach households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Grover Beach’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Grover Beach is 1,347th among 2,354 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000
| # | 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 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 126 | Alamo CA | 14,488 | $250K | 2.1% | 3.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,345 | Pocono Township PA | 10,902 | $105K | 9.4% | 5.7% | 18% | B− |
| 1,346 | Hartselle AL | 16,312 | $76K | 13.3% | 3.1% | 15% | B− |
| 1,347 | Grover Beach CA | 12,456 | $86K | 11.8% | 4.3% | 7% | B− |
| 1,348 | Joshua TX | 9,352 | $68K | 19.2% | 2.7% | 6% | B− |
| 1,349 | Middletown PA | 9,776 | $56K | 12.4% | 2.9% | 4% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Grover Beach, the top three, the last and three more from California.
19% of Grover Beach works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Arroyo Grande (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Grover Beach workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grover Beach | – | B− | A | 20 min | $86,458 |
| Arroyo Grande | 10% | A− | A | 24 min | $102,553 |
| Pismo Beach | 7% | B+ | A− | 23 min | $118,072 |
| Oceano | 2% | C+ | A− | 21 min | $71,598 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Grover Beach’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 Grover Beach: questions
What is the median household income in Grover Beach?
$86,458 (±$21,964) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Grover Beach?
11.8%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Grover Beach?
20 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Grover Beach work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Luis Obispo (19%, 10 mi), Arroyo Grande (10%, 2 mi), Santa Maria (9%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Grover Beach walkable?
Grover Beach is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 15.5 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Grover Beach without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 30% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Grover Beach, from the people who make the trip.
More of Grover Beach
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.