Martinez Historical District · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ, M.D. · CC BY-SA 4.0Oasis has lower household incomes than 97% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 3% of workers, next to 17% for California as a whole. 34.7% of residents live below the poverty line, where California as a whole has 12.0%. For jobs and income Oasis is better than 2% of U.S. towns (D−); for walkability it is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Oasis and work: the main findings
Oasis makes and builds things
61% of the jobs based in Oasis are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Oasis residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 29%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
47% 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Oasis than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Oasis fell from 1,132 in 2013 to 665 in 2023, −41%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Few Oasis workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 17% across California. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
The jobs in Oasis pay better than its residents’ jobs
59% of the jobs based in Oasis pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 44% of the jobs Oasis residents hold. 91% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Oasis. 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.
Where Oasis’ Jobs & income grade comes from
Job access by car holds Oasis’ grade up (ahead of 25% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (16.3%, U.S. 5.2%).
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oasis stays D−.
A place that makes things: 61% of Oasis’ jobs are in goods
665 jobs are based in Oasis.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oasis, 2013 → 2023: 1,132 → 665. 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 Oasis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Oasis commutes
About 47% 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.
Oasis’ commute takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oasis workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,679 commuters (the 3% 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 daily commute in and out of Oasis
On a workday 1,190 residents head out to work, 58 work right here, and 607 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,500 people are in Oasis on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.53 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
10% of working residents work in Indio
Where Oasis clocks in
10% of workers
8% 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.
The commute in Oasis is mostly behind the wheel
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,728 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 59% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 24% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 60% 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). 1.7% of Oasis households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Oasis’ commuters take a bus or train.
Where Oasis sits among U.S. towns of 2,800 to 5,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Del Mar CA | 3,858 | $199K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 124 | La Habra Heights CA | 5,327 | $180K | 4.9% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,208 | Union Springs AL | 3,091 | $26K | 41.3% | 8.9% | 25% | D− |
| 4,209 | Cherokee Village AR | 4,981 | $37K | 17.0% | 16.8% | 7% | D− |
| 4,210 | Oasis CA | 4,051 | $39K | 34.7% | 16.3% | 5% | D− |
| 4,211 | San Joaquin CA | 3,688 | $43K | 41.0% | 19.3% | 5% | D− |
| 4,212 | Louisiana MO | 3,208 | $39K | 31.7% | 8.6% | 24% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,283 | 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 Oasis, 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 Oasis: questions
What is the median household income in Oasis?
$38,769 (±$2,627) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oasis?
34.7%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oasis?
27 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oasis work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Indio (10%, 16 mi), Coachella (8%, 11 mi), Palm Desert (6%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oasis walkable?
Oasis is more walkable than 55% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oasis without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 24% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oasis, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oasis
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.