Photo: Publichall · CC BY-SA 3.0Merced has higher unemployment (11.3%) than 96% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 6.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles. Jobs and income earn Merced C−; getting around on foot earns it A−. 8% of workers have no commute at all (California 17%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Merced at work: what stands out
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Merced
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Merced is better than 16% of U.S. towns, #740 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Merced’s grade up (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Merced could be anywhere from D to C−.
Where in the region Merced works
About 37% 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 leaves Merced for work, and who comes in
On a workday 22,095 residents head out to work, 10,002 work right here, and 16,557 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 (0.83 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.
Where Merced goes to work
Where Merced clocks in
4% of workers
3% 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.
Inside Merced’s 26,559 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Merced, 2013 → 2023: 23,390 → 26,559. 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 Merced’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 29 minutes each way for Merced’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Merced workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 32,821 commuters (the 8% 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.
Merced is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Merced is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #384 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.8% 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 35,845 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 95% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 34% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 6.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 88% 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). 8.9% of Merced households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Merced’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 70,000 to 135,000, and where Merced sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| 3 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Berkeley CA | 121,911 | $108K | 17.3% | 5.6% | 21% | A |
| 25 | Mountain View CA | 85,438 | $190K | 6.0% | 3.7% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 421 | Erie PA | 91,838 | $46K | 23.3% | 7.1% | 47% | C− |
| 422 | Las Cruces NM | 116,978 | $55K | 22.6% | 7.0% | 60% | C− |
| 423 | Merced CA | 99,724 | $63K | 23.9% | 11.3% | 31% | C− |
| 424 | Reading PA | 95,832 | $44K | 28.7% | 13.7% | 15% | C− |
| 425 | Lawton OK | 90,503 | $54K | 21.1% | 8.1% | 55% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 427 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | 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 Merced, the top three, the last and three more from California.
How Merced compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Merced’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 Merced: questions
What is the median household income in Merced?
$63,122 (±$3,879) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Merced?
23.9%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Merced?
29 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Merced work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Modesto (4%, 37 mi), Atwater (3%, 7 mi), San Jose (3%, 74 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Merced walkable?
Merced is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 12.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Merced without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 34% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Merced, from the people who make the trip.
More of Merced
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.