Porter-Vallejo Mansion · Photo: User:Ronbo76 · CC BY 2.5Pajaro has higher unemployment (12.1%) than 97% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Pajaro is ahead of 62% of U.S. towns. Jobs and income earn Pajaro C; getting around on foot earns it B−. The average commute, 29 minutes each way, matches the California norm.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Pajaro and work: the main findings
Pajaro and Watsonville trade workers both ways
Watsonville is the top workplace for Pajaro residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in Pajaro come from (19% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
55% of the jobs in Pajaro are in trade, transport and utilities, against 19% of the jobs its residents hold. 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; with 853 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Pajaro’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pajaro is better than 31% of U.S. towns, #649 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Pajaro’s grade up (ahead of 66% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pajaro could be anywhere from D to B+.
16% of working residents work in Watsonville
Where Pajaro clocks in
16% of workers
8% of workers
8% 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.
Pajaro makes things: 34% of its jobs are in goods
863 jobs are based in Pajaro.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pajaro, 2013 → 2023: 691 → 863. 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 Pajaro’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Pajaro by day
On a workday 834 residents head out to work, 19 work right here, and 844 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 (1.01 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.
A commute of about 29 minutes in Pajaro
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pajaro workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 885 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.
How far Pajaro’s workers travel
About 24% 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.
For most of Pajaro, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pajaro is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns, #681 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.0% 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 1,028 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, 38% 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). 5.2% of Pajaro households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Pajaro’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,882 U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,900, Pajaro comes 3,310th 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Ross CA | 2,304 | $250K | 4.8% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,308 | Nottawa Township MI | 2,225 | $79K | 8.6% | 6.8% | 6% | C |
| 3,309 | Mooers NY | 3,449 | $61K | 10.0% | 3.3% | 5% | C |
| 3,310 | Pajaro CA | 2,899 | $85K | 19.3% | 12.1% | 2% | C |
| 3,311 | Skippers Corner NC | 3,792 | $72K | 28.3% | 5.1% | 1% | C |
| 3,312 | Girard PA | 2,906 | $71K | 8.8% | 7.6% | 6% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,882 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Pajaro, the top three, the last and three more from California.
The towns next door employ 16% of Pajaro
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pajaro workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pajaro | – | C | B− | 29 min | $84,875 |
| Watsonville | 16% | C | A | 26 min | $78,393 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Watsonville. Darker towns draw more of Pajaro’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 Pajaro: questions
What is the median household income in Pajaro?
$84,875 (±$36,088) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pajaro?
19.3%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pajaro?
29 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pajaro work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Watsonville (16%, 2 mi), San Jose (8%, 28 mi), Salinas (8%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pajaro walkable?
Pajaro is more walkable than 54% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pajaro without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 38% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pajaro, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pajaro
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.