Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Madera has higher unemployment (12.6%) than 98% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 2.5 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 5.7 in Fresno. Jobs and income earn Madera C−; getting around on foot earns it A−. Home is the office for 7% of workers (California 17%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Madera, in brief
Madera and Fresno trade workers both ways
Fresno is the top workplace for Madera residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Madera come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Madera has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Madera went from 13,617 in 2013 to 18,956 in 2023, +39%. 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.
Jobs & income in Madera: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Madera is better than 19% of U.S. towns, #722 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Madera’s grade up (ahead of 68% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Madera stays C−.
18% of working residents work in Fresno
Where Madera clocks in
18% of workers
3% of workers
2% 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.
Madera works in goods: 33% of its jobs
18,956 jobs are based in Madera.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Madera, 2013 → 2023: 13,617 → 18,956. 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 Madera’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 16,387 residents head out to work, 6,192 work right here, and 12,764 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 (0.84 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.
Commuting from Madera: about 26 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Madera workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 23,621 commuters (the 7% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Madera
About 25% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Madera
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Madera is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns, #462 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% 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 25,381 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 99% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 30% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 73% 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). 7.8% of Madera households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Madera’s commuters take a bus or train.
Madera and other U.S. towns of 48,000 to 93,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Cupertino CA | 58,333 | $235K | 4.1% | 4.0% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | South San Francisco CA | 64,941 | $137K | 6.7% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 624 | Muncie IN | 65,466 | $44K | 29.2% | 7.8% | 39% | C− |
| 625 | Pontiac MI | 62,077 | $44K | 24.4% | 10.1% | 12% | C− |
| 626 | Madera CA | 69,017 | $64K | 25.6% | 12.6% | 27% | C− |
| 627 | Canton OH | 69,001 | $43K | 27.4% | 7.8% | 22% | C− |
| 628 | Camden NJ | 71,430 | $41K | 30.2% | 14.5% | 17% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 651 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Madera, the top three, the last and three more from California.
The towns around Madera
The biggest share goes to Madera Acres (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Madera workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Madera | – | C− | A− | 26 min | $63,933 |
| Madera Acres | 1% | C | C− | 29 min | $78,457 |
| Parkwood | under 1% | C | B− | 20 min | $61,645 |
| Parksdale | under 1% | D | B | 28 min | $51,587 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Madera’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 Madera: questions
What is the median household income in Madera?
$63,933 (±$4,743) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Madera?
25.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Madera?
26 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Madera work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fresno (18%, 20 mi), Chowchilla (3%, 14 mi), Clovis (2%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Madera walkable?
Madera is more walkable than 76% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 13.0 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Madera without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 30% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Madera, from the people who make the trip.
More of Madera
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.