Olema Lime Kilns · Photo: Roger Sturtevant, photographer · Public domainLagunitas-Forest Knolls has higher household incomes than 92% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 37.5 in San Francisco. 4.4% of residents live below the poverty line; California has 12.0%. Jobs and income earn Lagunitas-Forest Knolls B+; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Lagunitas-Forest Knolls apart
Lagunitas-Forest Knolls is a place people come home to
There are 126 jobs based in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
Lagunitas-Forest Knolls’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lagunitas-Forest Knolls is San Francisco, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (75) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A lot of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls works from home
29% of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls 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 516 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
On income, poverty and job access, Lagunitas-Forest Knolls is better than 69% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Lagunitas-Forest Knolls’ grade up ($130,682, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 12% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (2.4%) is left out: Lagunitas-Forest Knolls’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, Lagunitas-Forest Knolls could be anywhere from B− to A−.
The daily flow of workers through Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
On a workday 505 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 115 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls on a workday afternoon, 24% fewer than live here.
0.24 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
About 19% 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.
About 32 minutes to work from Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 620 commuters (the 29% 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.
15% of working residents work in San Francisco
Where Lagunitas-Forest Knolls clocks in
10% of workers
4% 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
126 jobs are based in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, 2013 → 2023: 135 → 126. 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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lagunitas-Forest Knolls is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Lagunitas-Forest Knolls near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 874 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 58% 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). 9.5% of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Lagunitas-Forest Knolls is 1,191st among 6,161 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Baywood Park CA | 1,580 | $217K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Irwindale CA | 1,439 | $114K | 4.3% | 6.5% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,189 | Chetek WI | 1,756 | $95K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,190 | Black Brook WI | 1,471 | $103K | 3.8% | 3.3% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,191 | Lagunitas-Forest Knolls CA | 1,626 | $131K | 4.4% | 2.4% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,192 | Capron IL | 1,407 | $90K | 8.9% | 8.3% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,193 | Wathena KS | 1,273 | $87K | 5.6% | 2.7% | 13% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | 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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Lagunitas-Forest Knolls and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lagunitas-Forest Knolls workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lagunitas-Forest Knolls | – | B+ | A | 32 min | $130,682 |
| San Geronimo | under 2% | — | — | 26 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. San Geronimo: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls’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 Lagunitas-Forest Knolls: questions
What is the median household income in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls?
$130,682 (±$22,434) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls?
4.4%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lagunitas-Forest Knolls?
32 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 29% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Francisco (15%, 22 mi), San Rafael (10%, 10 mi), Oakland (4%, 31 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lagunitas-Forest Knolls walkable?
Lagunitas-Forest Knolls is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.6 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lagunitas-Forest Knolls without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lagunitas-Forest Knolls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lagunitas-Forest Knolls
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.