Herald has higher household incomes than 71% of U.S. towns
Herald grades A− for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Below the poverty line: 3.8% of residents (California 12.0%). Only 3% stay in Herald for work; outside it, Sacramento is the main destination (16%, 23 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Herald
Herald makes and builds things
67% of the jobs based in Herald are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Herald residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 20%. The jobs ↓
Herald’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Herald is Sacramento, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (80) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Many jobs in Herald pay little
35% of the jobs based in Herald pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
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; with 507 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Herald’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Herald is better than 84% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 61% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (8.6%) is left out: Herald’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Herald could be anywhere from B+ to A.
Herald makes things: 67% of its jobs are in goods
330 jobs are based in Herald.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Herald, 2013 → 2023: 154 → 330. 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 Herald’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Herald
About 18% 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 leaves Herald for work, and who comes in
On a workday 492 residents head out to work, 15 work right here, and 315 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Herald on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.65 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.
Where people from Herald work
Where Herald clocks in
16% of workers
8% of workers
8% 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 Herald 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 Herald workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 683 commuters (the 16% 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.
Herald is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Herald is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 5.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 810 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). 21.4% of Herald households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Herald’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100, Herald ranks 487th of 5,794 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Baywood Park CA | 1,580 | $217K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Irwindale CA | 1,439 | $114K | 4.3% | 6.5% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 485 | Hampton IL | 1,751 | $90K | 4.7% | 4.3% | 1% | A− |
| 486 | Dahlgren Township MN | 1,333 | $85K | 4.5% | 4.6% | 1% | A− |
| 487 | Herald CA | 1,521 | $93K | 3.8% | 8.6% | 3% | A− |
| 488 | Oriole Beach FL | 2,005 | $88K | 1.4% | 1.7% | 2% | A− |
| 489 | Grandview OH | 1,382 | $105K | 7.5% | 10.3% | 0% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Herald, 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 Herald: questions
What is the median household income in Herald?
$93,036 (±$18,839) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Herald?
3.8%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Herald?
27 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Herald work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sacramento (16%, 23 mi), Elk Grove (8%, 12 mi), Galt (8%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Herald walkable?
Herald is more walkable than 53% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Herald without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 21% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Herald, from the people who make the trip.
More of Herald
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.