La Honda’s household incomes are among the highest in the country
For jobs and income La Honda is better than 67% of U.S. towns (B+); for walkability it is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (B−). Measured by household income, La Honda is among the highest-earning towns in the country. 5.0% of residents live below the poverty line, against 12.0% across California.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from La Honda, in brief
La Honda’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside La Honda is San Francisco, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (43) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
La Honda workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 40 minutes each way, against 29 across California. Over a year that’s about 307 hours of commuting, 84 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Home offices are common in La Honda
31% of La Honda workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
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 317 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why La Honda gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Household income holds La Honda’s grade up ($250,000+, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: La Honda’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
The Census reports La Honda’s median household income as $250,000+, the top of its scale; the grade ranks it as tied with the 111 other graded places at that ceiling.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, La Honda could be anywhere from B− to A−.
The distance from La Honda to work
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.
From La Honda, about 40 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of La Honda workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 549 commuters (the 31% 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.
La Honda by day and by night
On a workday 314 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 164 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in La Honda on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.53 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.
14% of working residents work in San Francisco
Where La Honda clocks in
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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
167 jobs are based in La Honda.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in La Honda, 2013 → 2023: 251 → 167. 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 La Honda’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting around La Honda: mostly by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 4.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 790 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). 0.0% of La Honda households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of La Honda’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, La Honda is 939th of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Castle Hill CA | 1,026 | $250K | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| 16 | Acalanes Ridge CA | 1,006 | $181K | 1.5% | 7.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 937 | Bethany Township MI | 1,291 | $80K | 3.8% | 1.4% | 3% | B+ |
| 938 | Rolling WI | 1,449 | $95K | 3.6% | 4.3% | 5% | B+ |
| 939 | La Honda CA | 1,269 | $250K | 5.0% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 940 | Orange Township MI | 1,018 | $92K | 7.4% | 1.4% | 1% | B+ |
| 941 | Springfield NH | 1,306 | $101K | 3.4% | 1.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 La Honda, 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.
- A ceiling on income. The Census stops at $250,000+, so the true median may be higher.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in La Honda: questions
What is the median household income in La Honda?
$250,000+ (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in La Honda?
5.0%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from La Honda?
40 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 30% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in La Honda work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Francisco (14%, 33 mi), San Jose (6%, 24 mi), Redwood City (6%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is La Honda walkable?
La Honda is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 4.2 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around La Honda 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 La Honda, from the people who make the trip.
More of La Honda
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.