Photo: Julie Jordan Scott from Bakersfield, California, USA · CC BY 2.0Hanford has higher unemployment (9.5%) than 93% of U.S. towns
At home: 7% of workers have no commute at all (California 17%). Jobs and income earn Hanford C; getting around on foot earns it A−. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 3.2 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 17.5 in Los Angeles.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Hanford at work: what stands out
How Hanford earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Hanford is better than 31% of U.S. towns, #647 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Hanford’s grade up (ahead of 60% 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, Hanford could be anywhere from C to C+.
Hanford’s commute takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hanford workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 22,918 commuters (the 7% 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.
Who works in Hanford, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 15,807 residents head out to work, 5,658 work right here, and 9,799 people come in from elsewhere.
About 56,000 people are in Hanford on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.72 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.
8% of working residents work in Visalia
Where Hanford clocks in
8% of workers
6% of workers
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.
What work there is in Hanford: 15,457 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hanford, 2013 → 2023: 14,094 → 15,457. 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 Hanford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Hanford’s workers travel
About 20% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Hanford
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Hanford is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #416 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.6% 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 24,690 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 85% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 16% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 77% 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). 7.8% of Hanford households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Hanford’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Hanford is 609th among 704 U.S. towns of 44,000 to 84,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Cupertino CA | 58,333 | $235K | 4.1% | 4.0% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | South San Francisco CA | 64,941 | $137K | 6.7% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 607 | Racine WI | 77,908 | $58K | 18.2% | 6.1% | 23% | C |
| 608 | Stillwater OK | 50,046 | $44K | 27.4% | 6.4% | 48% | C |
| 609 | Hanford CA | 62,229 | $76K | 14.5% | 9.5% | 26% | C |
| 610 | Winter Haven FL | 62,313 | $60K | 16.4% | 5.1% | 13% | C |
| 611 | New Britain CT | 76,286 | $59K | 18.1% | 7.9% | 15% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 704 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 28% | 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 Hanford, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Hanford and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Hanford workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hanford | – | C | A− | 23 min | $76,461 |
| Home Garden | under 2% | C | B− | 28 min | $56,384 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Hanford’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 Hanford: questions
What is the median household income in Hanford?
$76,461 (±$5,174) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hanford?
14.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hanford?
23 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hanford work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Visalia (8%, 18 mi), Lemoore (6%, 8 mi), Fresno (6%, 32 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Hanford walkable?
Hanford is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 12.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Hanford without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 16% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hanford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hanford
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.