Photo: Perfect Zero from Los Angeles, CA, US · CC BY 2.0Mammoth Lakes’ household incomes are higher than in 75% of U.S. towns
Mammoth Lakes grades B for jobs and income and A for walkability. 6.1% of residents live below the poverty line, where California as a whole has 12.0%. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 8.2 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 17.5 in Los Angeles.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Mammoth Lakes, in brief
Commutes from Mammoth Lakes are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
Mammoth Lakes is where the jobs are
Mammoth Lakes has 5,308 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
41% 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 ↓
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.
Where Mammoth Lakes’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mammoth Lakes is better than 61% of U.S. towns, #397 of 847 in California. Household income holds Mammoth Lakes’ grade up ($98,056, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 15% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mammoth Lakes could be anywhere from C− to A.
The daily trip from Mammoth Lakes: about 15 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mammoth Lakes workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,039 commuters (the 14% 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.
Mammoth Lakes on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,459 residents head out to work, 1,595 work right here, and 3,713 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,100 people are in Mammoth Lakes on a workday afternoon, 33% 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.
Half of Mammoth Lakes commutes less than 3 miles
About 41% 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.
The daily trip into Mammoth Lakes
Where Mammoth Lakes clocks in
2% 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.
In Mammoth Lakes, services account for most jobs
5,308 jobs are based in Mammoth Lakes.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mammoth Lakes, 2013 → 2023: 4,386 → 5,308. 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 Mammoth Lakes’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Mammoth Lakes 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, Mammoth Lakes is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns, #156 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Mammoth Lakes 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 4,700 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 89% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 65% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 8.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 91% 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). 5.2% of Mammoth Lakes households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Mammoth Lakes’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Mammoth Lakes is 1,488th among 3,229 U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | La Habra Heights CA | 5,327 | $180K | 4.9% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,486 | Wilson NY | 5,727 | $89K | 8.7% | 3.3% | 11% | B |
| 1,487 | Porters Neck NC | 7,654 | $120K | 3.8% | 12.5% | 6% | B |
| 1,488 | Mammoth Lakes CA | 6,867 | $98K | 6.1% | 3.3% | 52% | B |
| 1,489 | Highwood IL | 5,323 | $108K | 16.0% | 6.0% | 6% | B |
| 1,490 | Marcellus NY | 5,959 | $94K | 5.4% | 6.6% | 11% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,229 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Mammoth Lakes, 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 Mammoth Lakes: questions
What is the median household income in Mammoth Lakes?
$98,056 (±$24,278) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mammoth Lakes?
6.1%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mammoth Lakes?
15 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mammoth Lakes work?
52% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Francisco (2%, 188 mi), Bridgeport (2%, 45 mi), Fresno (2%, 73 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mammoth Lakes walkable?
Mammoth Lakes is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.1 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mammoth Lakes without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 65% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mammoth Lakes, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mammoth Lakes
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.