Photo: Frank Schulenburg · CC BY-SA 4.0A job hub: Oroville has 1.8 jobs per working resident, and 9,068 people come in to work
Jobs and income earn Oroville D; getting around on foot earns it B+. Oroville has 11,067 jobs, against 6,286 working residents. Household incomes here are lower than in 85% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Oroville stands out on work
Oroville is the work center of its corner
Every town that borders Oroville (Oroville East, Thermalito, South Oroville and Palermo) has fewer jobs than working residents, while Oroville has 1.8 per resident. Next door ↓
Commutes from Oroville are quick
The average trip to work takes 20 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker, and quicker than any town next door (23 to 29 minutes). Time on the road ↓
The biggest group of Oroville’s workers comes from Chico
1,687 of the people who work in Oroville live in Chico, 23 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Oroville’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Oroville is Chico, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (810) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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.
How Oroville earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Oroville is better than 11% of U.S. towns, #770 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Oroville’s grade up (ahead of 44% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (21.4%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Oroville could be anywhere from D to C.
Each way, about 20 minutes from Oroville
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Oroville workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,485 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.
Where Oroville’s workers come from
Where Oroville clocks in
13% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Oroville
About 28% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Oroville
On a workday 4,287 residents head out to work and 1,999 work right here.
About 25,000 people are in Oroville on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
What Oroville’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Oroville, 2013 → 2023: 10,058 → 11,067. 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 Oroville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
For most of Oroville, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Oroville is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns, #569 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Oroville 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 7,011 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 11% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 11.2% of Oroville households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Oroville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Oroville next to U.S. towns of 14,000 to 28,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ada Township MI | 14,769 | $168K | 2.0% | 0.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 57 | Orinda CA | 19,507 | $250K | 2.2% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 97 | Alamo CA | 14,488 | $250K | 2.1% | 3.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 129 | Coto de Caza CA | 15,190 | $244K | 3.0% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,864 | Dyersburg TN | 15,906 | $52K | 21.6% | 7.4% | 46% | D |
| 1,865 | Charleston IL | 17,466 | $49K | 26.3% | 6.1% | 31% | D |
| 1,866 | Oroville CA | 20,451 | $52K | 21.4% | 7.7% | 32% | D |
| 1,867 | Mineral Wells TX | 15,983 | $56K | 22.4% | 6.5% | 37% | D |
| 1,868 | Fort Payne AL | 15,189 | $47K | 32.5% | 5.0% | 51% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,931 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Oroville, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Oroville and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Oroville East (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Oroville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oroville | – | D | B+ | 20 min | $52,270 |
| Oroville East | 7% | C+ | D | 29 min | $94,512 |
| Thermalito | 1% | D | C− | 24 min | $54,865 |
| South Oroville | 1% | D | C | 23 min | $65,409 |
| Palermo | under 2% | D | C | 29 min | $50,588 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Oroville’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 Oroville: questions
What is the median household income in Oroville?
$52,270 (±$5,578) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Oroville?
21.4%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Oroville?
20 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Oroville work?
32% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chico (13%, 23 mi), Oroville East (7%, 4 mi), Sacramento (3%, 64 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Oroville walkable?
Oroville is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Oroville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Oroville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Oroville
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.