Photo: CommanderCold · CC BY-SA 4.0Plumas Lake has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.1 for each
The two grades for Plumas Lake are B+ for jobs and income and D for walkability. Plumas Lake has 264 jobs, against 3,934 working residents. Measured by household income, Plumas Lake is ahead of 88% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Plumas Lake: the figures worth knowing
Plumas Lake workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 43 minutes each way, against 29 across California. Over a year that’s about 330 hours of commuting, 107 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Plumas Lake is a place people come home to
There are 264 jobs based in Plumas Lake, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Plumas Lake has about 5,700 people in it, 39% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Plumas Lake’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Plumas Lake is Sacramento, 29 miles away as the crow flies. 21% of working residents (809) 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.
Income, poverty and work: Plumas Lake’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Plumas Lake is better than 74% of U.S. towns, #243 of 847 in California. Household income holds Plumas Lake’s grade up ($120,408, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Plumas Lake could be anywhere from B− to A.
About 43 minutes each way, longer than most of California
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 13.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Plumas Lake workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,795 commuters (the 15% 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.
Plumas Lake quiets down on a workday
On a workday 3,879 residents head out to work, 55 work right here, and 209 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,700 people are in Plumas Lake on a workday afternoon, 39% fewer 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Plumas Lake
About 19% 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.
21% of working residents work in Sacramento
Where Plumas Lake clocks in
21% of workers
7% 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.
Goods jobs make up 50% of work in Plumas Lake
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Plumas Lake, 2013 → 2023: 129 → 264. 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 Plumas Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
For most of Plumas Lake, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Plumas Lake is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns, #828 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Plumas Lake 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 4,490 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 0.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 51% 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). 1.4% of Plumas Lake households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Plumas Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Plumas Lake is 981st among 2,806 U.S. towns of 6,600 to 12,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 62 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 979 | Castle Shannon PA | 8,006 | $64K | 10.5% | 0.4% | 4% | B+ |
| 980 | Madison Township OH | 8,853 | $82K | 10.0% | 1.9% | 4% | B+ |
| 981 | Plumas Lake CA | 9,418 | $120K | 4.5% | 4.7% | 1% | B+ |
| 982 | Needham Township IN | 7,952 | $92K | 12.3% | 2.2% | 4% | B+ |
| 983 | Kirkland NY | 9,804 | $83K | 6.7% | 2.5% | 20% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,806 | 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 Plumas Lake, the top three, the last and three more from California.
How Plumas Lake compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Plumas Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plumas Lake | – | B+ | D | 43 min | $120,408 |
| Rio Oso | under 2% | — | — | 27 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Rio Oso: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Plumas Lake’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 Plumas Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Plumas Lake?
$120,408 (±$12,122) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Plumas Lake?
4.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Plumas Lake?
43 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Plumas Lake work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sacramento (21%, 29 mi), Roseville (7%, 19 mi), Yuba City (6%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Plumas Lake walkable?
Plumas Lake is more walkable than 10% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Plumas Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Plumas Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Plumas Lake
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.