How Petaluma Center works: jobs, income and commuting
There are 210 jobs in Petaluma Center; 273 of its residents have a job. Hardly any work in Petaluma Center itself; outside it, Petaluma draws the most (15%, 9 miles). The average commute takes 10 minutes each way, against 29 across California and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Petaluma Center apart on work
About 10 minutes each way for Petaluma Center’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Petaluma Center workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 329 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 many people are in Petaluma Center by day
On a workday 272 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 209 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 (0.77 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Petaluma Center goes to work
Where Petaluma Center clocks in
15% 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.
Petaluma Center is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Petaluma Center, 2014 → 2024: 153 → 210. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Petaluma Center’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Petaluma Center
About 23% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Petaluma Center: questions
What is the median household income in Petaluma Center?
$75,682 (±$51,600) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Petaluma Center?
0.0%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Petaluma Center?
10 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Petaluma Center work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Petaluma (15%, 9 mi), Santa Rosa (8%, 14 mi), San Francisco (5%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Petaluma Center without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Petaluma Center, from the people who make the trip.
More of Petaluma Center
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.