Warner's Ranch · Photo: Historic American Buildings Survey - Jack E. Boucher · Public domainJobs, pay and the trip to work in Julian
About one in five work in Julian; the top destination outside it is San Diego (24%, 35 miles). The two grades for Julian are C+ for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 33% of workers; California has 17%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Julian
Julian’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Julian is San Diego, 35 miles away as the crow flies. 24% of working residents (139) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Julian workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 47 minutes each way, against 29 across California. Over a year that’s about 360 hours of commuting, 138 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Julian than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Julian fell from 982 in 2013 to 540 in 2023, −45%. 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 ↓
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 584 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Julian gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Julian is better than 42% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Julian’s grade up (5.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (3.6%) is left out: Julian’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, Julian could be anywhere from C− to B.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Julian
About 21% 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.
A commute of about 47 minutes in Julian
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 15.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Julian workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 539 commuters (the 33% 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 540 jobs based in Julian
540 jobs are based in Julian.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Julian, 2013 → 2023: 982 → 540. 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 Julian’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Julian by day and by night
On a workday 467 residents head out to work, 117 work right here, and 423 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 (0.92 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.
Where Julian’s working residents head each day
Where Julian clocks in
24% of workers
2% 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.
Driving is how Julian gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Julian is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 803 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 50% 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). 0.0% of Julian households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Julian’s commuters take a bus or train.
Julian places 2,827th of 6,085 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Irwindale CA | 1,439 | $114K | 4.3% | 6.5% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,825 | St. Armand NY | 1,377 | $81K | 6.3% | 3.3% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,826 | Jackson Township PA | 1,611 | $72K | 8.2% | 7.1% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,827 | Julian CA | 1,751 | $78K | 5.7% | 3.6% | 20% | C+ |
| 2,828 | Burton OH | 1,424 | $69K | 13.8% | 1.6% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,829 | Tremont PA | 1,696 | $77K | 10.4% | 3.9% | 6% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,085 | 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 Julian, 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 Julian: questions
What is the median household income in Julian?
$77,803 (±$19,890) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Julian?
5.7%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Julian?
47 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 33% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Julian work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Diego (24%, 35 mi), Los Angeles (5%, 124 mi), Ramona (2%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Julian walkable?
Julian is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 9.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Julian without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Julian, from the people who make the trip.
More of Julian
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.