Photo: GeorgeLouis · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Lamont have lower incomes than those in 97% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 4% of workers (California 17%). Below the poverty line: 35.4% of residents, next to 12.0% across California. Jobs and income earn Lamont D; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Lamont
Lamont and Bakersfield trade workers both ways
Bakersfield is the top workplace for Lamont residents (25%) and also where the most people who work in Lamont come from (32% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Lamont than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Lamont fell from 2,630 in 2013 to 1,721 in 2023, −35%. 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 ↓
Few Lamont workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 17% across California. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
35% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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.
The figures behind Lamont’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lamont is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #797 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Lamont’s grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lamont stays D.
25% of working residents work in Bakersfield
Where Lamont clocks in
25% 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.
What work there is in Lamont: 1,721 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lamont, 2013 → 2023: 2,630 → 1,721. 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 Lamont’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Lamont’s commute takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lamont workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,924 commuters (the 4% 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.
How far it is to work from Lamont
About 35% 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.
Lamont on a workday afternoon
On a workday 3,839 residents head out to work, 341 work right here, and 1,380 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Lamont on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.41 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.
Driving is how Lamont gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lamont is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns, #657 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.5% 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 5,153 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 98% 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 0.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 50% 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). 4.6% of Lamont households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Lamont’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Lamont sits among U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 82 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 130 | Alamo CA | 14,488 | $250K | 2.1% | 3.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,427 | Ironton OH | 10,148 | $48K | 23.7% | 6.8% | 22% | D |
| 2,428 | Uniontown PA | 9,434 | $35K | 27.8% | 9.2% | 14% | D |
| 2,429 | Lamont CA | 13,164 | $37K | 35.4% | 10.0% | 8% | D |
| 2,430 | DeRidder LA | 9,503 | $60K | 19.1% | 10.1% | 34% | D |
| 2,431 | Lebanon MO | 15,663 | $48K | 21.7% | 6.9% | 53% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Lamont, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Lamont and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Weedpatch (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Lamont’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 Lamont: questions
What is the median household income in Lamont?
$37,217 (±$4,737) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lamont?
35.4%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lamont?
25 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lamont work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bakersfield (25%, 9 mi), Los Angeles (5%, 91 mi), Arvin (2%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lamont walkable?
Lamont is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 11.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lamont without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lamont, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lamont
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.