Photo: Sanfranman59 · CC BY-SA 3.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as high as Piedmont’s
Poverty touches 4.3% of residents; California has 12.0%. Measured by household income, Piedmont is among the highest-earning towns in the country. Jobs and income earn Piedmont A+; getting around on foot earns it A+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Piedmont: the figures worth knowing
A lot of Piedmont works from home
40% of Piedmont workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
Most jobs here, and most residents’ jobs, pay over $40,000
81% of Piedmont’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data, and so do 72% of the jobs based in Piedmont. The jobs ↓
Nearly all the work in Piedmont is services
92% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 4% are in factories, building or farms. 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.
Piedmont’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Piedmont is among the top U.S. towns, #1 of 847 in California. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Piedmont’s grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
The Census reports Piedmont’s median household income as $250,000+, the top of its scale; the grade ranks it as tied with the 111 other graded places at that ceiling.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Piedmont stays A+.
The trip to work from Piedmont: about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Piedmont workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,952 commuters (the 40% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
1,404 jobs are based in Piedmont.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Piedmont, 2013 → 2023: 1,329 → 1,404. 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 Piedmont’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Piedmont, and who commutes in
On a workday 4,254 residents head out to work, 199 work right here, and 1,205 people come in from elsewhere.
About 7,600 people are in Piedmont on a workday afternoon, 29% fewer than live here.
0.32 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.
27% of working residents work in San Francisco
Where Piedmont clocks in
18% of workers
5% 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.
Miles to work from Piedmont
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.
Piedmont is among the most walkable U.S. towns
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Piedmont is among the most walkable U.S. towns, #13 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Piedmont 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 4,915 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, 48% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 17.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 97% 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). 1.6% of Piedmont households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 14% of Piedmont’s commuters take a bus or train.
15th of 2,878: where Piedmont ranks among U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Scaggsville MD | 10,564 | $207K | 2.9% | 1.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 14 | Belmont VA | 9,729 | $243K | 2.1% | 1.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 15 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| 16 | Riverside IL | 8,939 | $154K | 3.3% | 1.9% | 4% | A+ |
| 17 | Madeira OH | 9,637 | $168K | 2.5% | 1.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 248 | East Whittier CA | 9,990 | $114K | 3.9% | 3.6% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Piedmont, 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.
- A ceiling on income. The Census stops at $250,000+, so the true median may be higher.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Piedmont: questions
What is the median household income in Piedmont?
$250,000+ (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Piedmont?
4.3%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Piedmont?
32 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 40% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Piedmont work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Francisco (27%, 11 mi), Oakland (18%, 4 mi), Berkeley (5%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Piedmont walkable?
Piedmont is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 15.0 out of 20, and 17% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Piedmont without a car?
14% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 48% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Piedmont, from the people who make the trip.
More of Piedmont
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.