Photo: Fruitianslip · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Los Ranchos are higher than in 89% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 18 minutes each way, where California has 29 and the U.S. 26. The two grades for Los Ranchos are A for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Only 1% stay in Los Ranchos for work; outside it, San Luis Obispo is the main destination (32%, 4 miles).
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 Ranchos
Los Ranchos and San Luis Obispo trade workers both ways
San Luis Obispo is the top workplace for Los Ranchos residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Los Ranchos come from (15% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Los Ranchos are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
50% of the jobs in Los Ranchos are in trade, transport and utilities, against 18% of the jobs its residents hold. 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; with 436 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Los Ranchos
The poverty rate holds Los Ranchos’ grade up (0.4%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 43% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Los Ranchos’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 Ranchos could be anywhere from B− to A.
Out of Los Ranchos to work: where people go
Where Los Ranchos clocks in
32% of workers
3% 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.
Time on the road from Los Ranchos: about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Los Ranchos workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 401 commuters (the 23% 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.
69% of the jobs in Los Ranchos pay over $3,333 a month
509 jobs are based in Los Ranchos.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Los Ranchos, 2013 → 2023: 195 → 509. 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 Ranchos’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 431 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 504 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 (1.17 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.
Los Ranchos’ commute, mile by mile
About 34% 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 trips from Los Ranchos start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Los Ranchos is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Los Ranchos 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 520 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 1.5% of Los Ranchos households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Los Ranchos’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Los Ranchos is 340th of 6,308 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Castle Hill CA | 1,026 | $250K | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| 22 | Acalanes Ridge CA | 1,006 | $181K | 1.5% | 7.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 338 | Treynor IA | 1,088 | $122K | 5.1% | 4.9% | 5% | A |
| 339 | Mantorville Township MN | 1,858 | $122K | 4.0% | 2.1% | 1% | A |
| 340 | Los Ranchos CA | 1,467 | $122K | 0.4% | 0.0% | 1% | A |
| 341 | Wilderness Rim WA | 1,560 | $150K | 3.3% | 1.2% | 1% | A |
| 342 | Brown Township OH | 1,187 | $100K | 2.2% | 1.4% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | 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 Ranchos, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Around Los Ranchos: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Los Ranchos workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Ranchos | – | A | B− | 18 min | $121,800 |
| Edna | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Edna: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Los Ranchos’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 Ranchos: questions
What is the median household income in Los Ranchos?
$121,800 (±$71,132) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Los Ranchos?
0.4%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Los Ranchos?
18 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Los Ranchos work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Luis Obispo (32%, 4 mi), Los Angeles (4%, 151 mi), Avila Beach (3%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Los Ranchos walkable?
Los Ranchos is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Los Ranchos without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Los Ranchos, from the people who make the trip.
More of Los Ranchos
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.