Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Keyes has 0.7 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income C: better than 26% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #677 of 847 in California.
Walkability C+: more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns · #720 of 847 in California.
Household incomes here are lower than in 67% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 30 minutes each way (California 29, U.S. 26). Only 3% work in Keyes; the top destination outside it is Modesto (16%, 8 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Keyes
Jobs in Keyes have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Keyes went from 660 in 2013 to 1,421 in 2023, +115%. The jobs ↓
Keyes and Modesto trade workers both ways
Modesto is the top workplace for Keyes residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in Keyes come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
46% of the jobs in Keyes are in trade, transport and utilities, against 21% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Keyes makes and builds things
37% of the jobs based in Keyes are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Keyes residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 31%. The jobs ↓
Most jobs in Keyes pay over $40,000 a year
72% of the jobs based in Keyes pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
What’s behind Keyes’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Keyes is better than 26% of U.S. towns, #677 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Keyes’ grade up (ahead of 73% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (23.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Keyes could be anywhere from D to B+.
Keyes makes things: 37% of its jobs are in goods
1,421 jobs are based in Keyes. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Keyes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Keyes, 2013 → 2023: 660 → 1,421. 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.
16% of working residents work in Modesto
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Keyes clocks in
16% of workers
10% of workers
8% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Keyes quiets down on a workday
On a workday 1,951 residents head out to work, 53 work right here, and 1,368 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,000 people are in Keyes on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.71 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.
About 30 minutes each way, about the CA average
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Keyes workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,060 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Half of Keyes commutes less than 12 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 29% 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.
Most trips from Keyes start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Keyes is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns, #720 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.0% 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 2,232 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 97% 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 1.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 61% 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). 4.5% of Keyes households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Keyes’ commuters take a bus or train.
Keyes is 2,722nd of 3,502 U.S. towns of 3,900 to 7,500 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Keyes, the top three, the last and three more from California.
| # | 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 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 121 | La Habra Heights CA | 5,327 | $180K | 4.9% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,720 | Kutztown PA | 4,255 | $53K | 20.6% | 6.2% | 9% | C |
| 2,721 | Vassalboro ME | 4,647 | $72K | 12.0% | 7.4% | 4% | C |
| 2,722 | Keyes CA | 5,577 | $65K | 23.5% | 7.0% | 3% | C |
| 2,723 | Richmond MI | 5,927 | $65K | 13.5% | 11.5% | 8% | C |
| 2,724 | Palacios TX | 4,370 | $53K | 19.2% | 1.3% | 11% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,502 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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.
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 Keyes: questions
What is the median household income in Keyes?
$64,524 (±$11,313) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Keyes?
23.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Keyes?
30 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Keyes work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Modesto (16%, 8 mi), Turlock (10%, 5 mi), Ceres (8%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Keyes walkable?
Keyes is more walkable than 45% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Keyes without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Keyes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Keyes
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.