Photo: Ramkumar Menon · CC BY-SA 4.0Los Gatos ranks among the highest-earning U.S. towns by household income
4.2% of residents live below the poverty line, against 12.0% across California. Measured by household income, Los Gatos is among the highest-earning towns in the country. Los Gatos grades A for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Los Gatos, in a few figures
Home offices are common in Los Gatos
33% of Los Gatos workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
Most jobs here, and most residents’ jobs, pay over $40,000
81% of Los Gatos’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data, and so do 75% of the jobs based in Los Gatos. The jobs ↓
Los Gatos and San Jose trade workers both ways
San Jose is the top workplace for Los Gatos residents (23%) and also where the most people who work in Los Gatos come from (33% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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.
Why Los Gatos gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Los Gatos is better than 90% of U.S. towns, #63 of 847 in California. Household income holds Los Gatos’ grade up ($217,554, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Los Gatos could be anywhere from A− to A+.
A commute of about 28 minutes in Los Gatos
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Los Gatos workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 10,021 commuters (the 33% 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.
75% of the jobs in Los Gatos pay over $3,333 a month
18,946 jobs are based in Los Gatos.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Los Gatos, 2013 → 2023: 14,464 → 18,946. 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 Gatos’s own residents hold wherever they work.
23% of working residents work in San Jose
Where Los Gatos clocks in
23% of workers
7% 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.
A workday in Los Gatos: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 13,553 residents head out to work, 1,155 work right here, and 17,791 people come in from elsewhere.
About 37,000 people are in Los Gatos on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.29 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.
How far Los Gatos’ workers travel
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.
Los Gatos is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Los Gatos is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns, #131 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Los Gatos 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 14,964 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 87% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 29% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 70% 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). 3.1% of Los Gatos households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Los Gatos’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Los Gatos is 229th of 1,283 U.S. towns of 23,000 to 44,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 118 | Lafayette CA | 25,313 | $228K | 2.9% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 227 | East Hempfield Township PA | 27,287 | $99K | 5.2% | 2.6% | 15% | A |
| 228 | Marple Township PA | 24,323 | $124K | 5.3% | 4.1% | 7% | A |
| 229 | Los Gatos CA | 32,576 | $218K | 4.2% | 5.0% | 8% | A |
| 230 | Cheshire CT | 30,983 | $147K | 5.0% | 4.1% | 13% | A |
| 231 | Raritan Township NJ | 25,281 | $165K | 3.4% | 4.2% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,283 | 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 Gatos, the top three, the last and three more from California.
26% of Los Gatos works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to San Jose (23%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Los Gatos workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Gatos | – | A | A | 28 min | $217,554 |
| Monte Sereno | under 3% | A | B+ | 25 min | $250,000+ |
| San Jose | 23% | A− | A | 27 min | $146,427 |
| Saratoga | under 3% | A+ | A− | 25 min | $250,000+ |
| Campbell | 3% | A | A | 23 min | $145,268 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Los Gatos’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 Los Gatos: questions
What is the median household income in Los Gatos?
$217,554 (±$14,059) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Los Gatos?
4.2%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Los Gatos?
28 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 33% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Los Gatos work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Jose (23%, 9 mi), Santa Clara (7%, 10 mi), San Francisco (6%, 46 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Los Gatos walkable?
Los Gatos is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 14.1 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Los Gatos without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 29% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Los Gatos, from the people who make the trip.
More of Los Gatos
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.