Photo: Damian Gadal · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Los Olivos top those of 94% of U.S. towns
3.0% of residents live below the poverty line (California 12.0%). Los Olivos grades A− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 2.4 in Santa Maria.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Los Olivos
Los Olivos is where the jobs are
Los Olivos has 617 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A lot of Los Olivos works from home
38% of Los Olivos workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
Los Olivos’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Los Olivos is Santa Barbara, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (29) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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; with 353 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Los Olivos earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Los Olivos is better than 83% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Los Olivos’ grade up ($143,229, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 31% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (3.8%) is left out: Los Olivos’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Los Olivos could be anywhere from B to A.
In and out of Los Olivos on a workday
On a workday 310 residents head out to work, 43 work right here, and 574 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Los Olivos on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Each way, about 20 minutes from Los Olivos
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Los Olivos workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 276 commuters (the 38% 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 many miles Los Olivos commutes
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.
Who travels to work in Los Olivos, and from where
Where Los Olivos clocks in
8% 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.
Factories, building and farms: 33% of the jobs in Los Olivos
617 jobs are based in Los Olivos.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Los Olivos, 2013 → 2023: 622 → 617. 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 Olivos’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Los Olivos 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 Olivos is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Los Olivos 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 448 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 77% 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 0.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 48% 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). 5.5% of Los Olivos households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Los Olivos’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Los Olivos is 220th among 3,133 U.S. towns of 700 to 1,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Castle Hill CA | 1,026 | $250K | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| 13 | Acalanes Ridge CA | 1,006 | $181K | 1.5% | 7.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 218 | Lake Dalecarlia IN | 1,169 | $118K | 6.2% | 4.6% | <1% | A− |
| 219 | Utica WI | 1,375 | $114K | 5.7% | 1.4% | 1% | A− |
| 220 | Los Olivos CA | 1,038 | $143K | 3.0% | 3.8% | 12% | A− |
| 221 | Monroe WI | 1,276 | $107K | 1.8% | 1.0% | 2% | A− |
| 222 | Taos MO | 1,175 | $99K | 2.5% | 2.1% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,133 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Olivos, the top three, the last and three more from California.
How Los Olivos compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Ballard (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Los Olivos workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Olivos | – | A− | A+ | 20 min | $143,229 |
| Ballard | 3% | — | — | 39 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Ballard: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Los Olivos’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 Olivos: questions
What is the median household income in Los Olivos?
$143,229 (±$42,940) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Los Olivos?
3.0%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Los Olivos?
20 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 38% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Los Olivos work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Santa Barbara (8%, 29 mi), Solvang (7%, 5 mi), Los Angeles (5%, 107 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Los Olivos walkable?
Los Olivos is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 11.5 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Los Olivos without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Los Olivos, from the people who make the trip.
More of Los Olivos
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.