Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0At 8.9%, unemployment in Los Banos is higher than in 92% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Los Banos itself; outside it, Merced draws the most (4%, 27 miles). The two grades for Los Banos are D for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 6% of workers work from home, against 17% across California.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Los Banos
Los Banos workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 55 minutes each way, against 29 across California. Over a year that’s about 422 hours of commuting, 199 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
No single place dominates Los Banos’ commute
The biggest draw, Merced, gets only 4% of working residents, and 53% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Los Banos residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
42% 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 ↓
Los Banos has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Los Banos went from 4,854 in 2013 to 6,787 in 2023, +40%. The jobs ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Los Banos’ grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Los Banos is better than 13% of U.S. towns, #766 of 847 in California. Household income holds Los Banos’ grade up ($68,171, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Los Banos could be anywhere from D to C−.
A commute of about 55 minutes in Los Banos
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 17.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Los Banos workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,288 commuters (the 6% 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.
Where Los Banos goes to work
Where Los Banos clocks in
4% of workers
4% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Los Banos
About 42% 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.
What the 6,787 jobs in Los Banos are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Los Banos, 2013 → 2023: 4,854 → 6,787. 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 Los Banos’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Los Banos on a workday afternoon
On a workday 11,172 residents head out to work, 2,986 work right here, and 3,801 people come in from elsewhere.
About 42,000 people are in Los Banos on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
0.48 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.
In Los Banos, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Los Banos is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #477 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.9% 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 17,344 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 90% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 19% 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). 7.1% of Los Banos households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Los Banos’ commuters take a bus or train.
Los Banos and other U.S. towns of 35,000 to 67,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| 3 | Oakton VA | 36,528 | $161K | 4.6% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Cupertino CA | 58,333 | $235K | 4.1% | 4.0% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | South San Francisco CA | 64,941 | $137K | 6.7% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 82 | Newark CA | 47,895 | $169K | 4.3% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 862 | Muskogee OK | 36,760 | $50K | 24.1% | 6.7% | 47% | D |
| 863 | Port Arthur TX | 55,804 | $46K | 29.0% | 8.4% | 25% | D |
| 864 | Los Banos CA | 49,614 | $68K | 17.4% | 8.9% | 21% | D |
| 865 | Decatur Township IL | 45,203 | $49K | 24.2% | 9.9% | 43% | D |
| 866 | Fort Pierce FL | 51,737 | $47K | 26.2% | 9.2% | 24% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 887 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Los Banos, 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 Los Banos: questions
What is the median household income in Los Banos?
$68,171 (±$7,569) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Los Banos?
17.4%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Los Banos?
55 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Los Banos work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Merced (4%, 27 mi), San Jose (4%, 56 mi), Modesto (4%, 41 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Los Banos walkable?
Los Banos is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 12.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Los Banos without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 19% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Los Banos, from the people who make the trip.
More of Los Banos
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.