Photo: User:bobjgalindo · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Live Oak works elsewhere
The two grades for Live Oak are C− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. There are 1,134 jobs in Live Oak for 3,459 working residents. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Live Oak stands out on work
Live Oak has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Live Oak went from 621 in 2013 to 1,134 in 2023, +83%. The jobs ↓
Live Oak and Yuba City trade workers both ways
Yuba City is the top workplace for Live Oak residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in Live Oak come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Live Oak
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Live Oak is better than 20% of U.S. towns, #713 of 847 in California. Household income holds Live Oak’s grade up ($73,571, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (17.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Live Oak could be anywhere from D to B−.
What Live Oak’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Live Oak, 2013 → 2023: 621 → 1,134. 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 Live Oak’s own residents hold wherever they work.
16% of working residents work in Yuba City
Where Live Oak clocks in
16% of workers
6% 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.
How far Live Oak’s workers travel
About 31% 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 workday in Live Oak: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 3,209 residents head out to work, 250 work right here, and 884 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,100 people are in Live Oak on a workday afternoon, 25% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Getting to work from Live Oak takes about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Live Oak workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,369 commuters (the 10% 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.
Live Oak is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Live Oak is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #439 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.1% 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 3,763 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 73% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 23% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 47% 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). 13.7% of Live Oak households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Live Oak’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 6,600 to 12,800, Live Oak ranks 2,424th of 2,831 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,422 | White River Township IN | 7,169 | $59K | 14.2% | 5.9% | 29% | C− |
| 2,423 | Brown Township OH | 7,280 | $57K | 14.8% | 7.9% | 14% | C− |
| 2,424 | Live Oak CA | 9,466 | $74K | 17.4% | 6.6% | 7% | C− |
| 2,425 | Meadow Lakes AK | 8,689 | $82K | 14.0% | 6.8% | — | C− |
| 2,426 | Sedona AZ | 9,619 | $74K | 14.0% | 6.2% | 39% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,831 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Live Oak, 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 Live Oak: questions
What is the median household income in Live Oak?
$73,571 (±$14,399) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Live Oak?
17.4%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Live Oak?
28 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Live Oak work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Yuba City (16%, 10 mi), Sacramento (6%, 50 mi), Marysville (4%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Live Oak walkable?
Live Oak is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Live Oak without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 23% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Live Oak, from the people who make the trip.
More of Live Oak
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.