Mount Shasta’s household incomes are lower than in 90% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 17.5% of residents, next to 12.0% for California as a whole. Mount Shasta grades C for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.6 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
The commute and the jobs: Mount Shasta in brief
Mount Shasta is where the jobs are
Mount Shasta has 1,793 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Mount Shasta are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% 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.
Mount Shasta’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mount Shasta is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #666 of 847 in California. Unemployment holds Mount Shasta’s grade up (hardly any, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($47,917, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mount Shasta could be anywhere from C− to B−.
A workday in Mount Shasta: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 702 residents head out to work, 389 work right here, and 1,404 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,800 people are in Mount Shasta on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.6 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.
A commute of about 21 minutes in Mount Shasta
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mount Shasta workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,073 commuters (the 17% 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.
The commute from Mount Shasta, by distance
About 30% 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.
Where Mount Shasta’s workforce comes from
Where Mount Shasta clocks in
7% of workers
7% of workers
6% 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.
Jobs in Mount Shasta: what the 1,793 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mount Shasta, 2013 → 2023: 1,911 → 1,793. 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 Mount Shasta’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Good to walk, short on transit: Mount Shasta
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mount Shasta is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns, #81 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Mount Shasta 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 1,300 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 42% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 51% 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). 12.2% of Mount Shasta households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mount Shasta’s commuters take a bus or train.
Mount Shasta is 3,390th of 4,771 U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,100 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Del Mar CA | 3,858 | $199K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Harmony Grove CA | 2,585 | $227K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Ross CA | 2,304 | $250K | 4.8% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,388 | La Blanca TX | 2,998 | $56K | 19.2% | 5.5% | <1% | C |
| 3,389 | Alexander AR | 3,801 | $57K | 27.5% | 5.2% | 1% | C |
| 3,390 | Mount Shasta CA | 3,071 | $48K | 17.5% | 0.0% | 36% | C |
| 3,391 | Fairmount IN | 2,670 | $52K | 25.7% | 2.6% | 7% | C |
| 3,392 | Amite City LA | 4,081 | $45K | 11.2% | 4.8% | 23% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,771 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Mount Shasta, 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 Mount Shasta: questions
What is the median household income in Mount Shasta?
$47,917 (±$19,961) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mount Shasta?
17.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mount Shasta?
21 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mount Shasta work?
36% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Weed (7%, 7 mi), Yreka (7%, 32 mi), Redding (6%, 52 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mount Shasta walkable?
Mount Shasta is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.0 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mount Shasta without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 12% of households have no car. 42% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mount Shasta, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mount Shasta
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.