Photo: Publichall · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Livingston (11.6%) than in 97% of U.S. towns
Livingston grades C for jobs and income and B− for walkability. For 4% of workers, the job is at home (California 17%). About one in five stay in Livingston for work; outside it, Turlock is the main destination (9%, 11 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Livingston, in a few figures
Livingston trades workers with the towns around it
Livingston has about as many jobs (5,545) as working residents (5,789), but they are mostly different people: 4,796 residents leave for work each day while 4,552 people come in. Only 18% of the jobs in Livingston are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Livingston makes and builds things
43% of the jobs based in Livingston are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Livingston residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 33%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Livingston are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. 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.
What’s behind Livingston’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Livingston is better than 27% of U.S. towns, #671 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Livingston’s grade up (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Livingston could be anywhere from C− to C+.
How a workday changes Livingston
On a workday 4,796 residents head out to work, 993 work right here, and 4,552 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.96 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Making and building: 43% of jobs based in Livingston
5,545 jobs are based in Livingston.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Livingston, 2013 → 2023: 5,020 → 5,545. 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 Livingston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Livingston: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Livingston workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,380 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.
Out of Livingston to work: where people go
Where Livingston clocks in
9% of workers
7% of workers
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.
How far it is to work from Livingston
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.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Livingston commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Livingston is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns, #688 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.1% 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 5,633 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, 14% 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). 5.7% of Livingston households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Livingston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,362 U.S. towns of 10,000 to 20,000, Livingston comes 1,927th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 74 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Orinda CA | 19,507 | $250K | 2.2% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,925 | Spencer IA | 11,218 | $60K | 14.0% | 4.5% | 54% | C |
| 1,926 | Nanakuli HI | 12,383 | $87K | 18.2% | 11.2% | 2% | C |
| 1,927 | Livingston CA | 14,690 | $74K | 17.1% | 11.6% | 17% | C |
| 1,928 | Arkansas City KS | 11,800 | $50K | 17.2% | 2.8% | 33% | C |
| 1,929 | Norwalk OH | 17,191 | $61K | 16.3% | 5.4% | 30% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,362 | 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 Livingston, 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 Livingston: questions
What is the median household income in Livingston?
$74,494 (±$7,274) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Livingston?
17.1%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Livingston?
23 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Livingston work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Turlock (9%, 11 mi), Merced (7%, 15 mi), Modesto (6%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Livingston walkable?
Livingston is more walkable than 52% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 10.9 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Livingston without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 14% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Livingston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Livingston
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.