Llano Road Roadhouse · Photo: Sanfranman59 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Rohnert Park have higher incomes than those in 76% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 10.5% of residents, next to 12.0% for California as a whole. Rohnert Park grades B for jobs and income and A− for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 2.2 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 1.0 in Santa Rosa.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Rohnert Park
Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa trade workers both ways
Santa Rosa is the top workplace for Rohnert Park residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Rohnert Park come from (26% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Rohnert Park has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Rohnert Park went from 9,615 in 2013 to 12,949 in 2023, +35%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: Rohnert Park’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rohnert Park is better than 61% of U.S. towns, #398 of 847 in California. Household income holds Rohnert Park’s grade up ($99,273, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.1%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rohnert Park could be anywhere from B− to B+.
18% of working residents work in Santa Rosa
Where Rohnert Park clocks in
18% of workers
11% 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.
65% of the jobs in Rohnert Park pay over $3,333 a month
12,949 jobs are based in Rohnert Park.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rohnert Park, 2013 → 2023: 9,615 → 12,949. 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 Rohnert Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Rohnert Park by day and by night
On a workday 17,975 residents head out to work, 2,346 work right here, and 10,603 people come in from elsewhere.
About 37,000 people are in Rohnert Park on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.64 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.
From Rohnert Park, about 27 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rohnert Park workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 21,162 commuters (the 13% 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 Rohnert Park’s workers travel
About 18% 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.
Rohnert Park is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rohnert Park is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #360 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.1% 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 24,216 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 2.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 70% 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). 4.7% of Rohnert Park households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Rohnert Park’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Rohnert Park is 578th of 1,000 U.S. towns of 31,000 to 60,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 71 | Cupertino CA | 58,333 | $235K | 4.1% | 4.0% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 99 | Newark CA | 47,895 | $169K | 4.3% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 576 | La Puente CA | 36,423 | $87K | 11.3% | 6.2% | 3% | B |
| 577 | Linden NJ | 45,752 | $93K | 9.6% | 9.5% | 10% | B |
| 578 | Rohnert Park CA | 44,811 | $99K | 10.5% | 5.1% | 12% | B |
| 579 | Jeffersonville IN | 54,134 | $71K | 11.2% | 4.0% | 22% | B |
| 580 | DeSoto TX | 56,681 | $83K | 7.6% | 8.9% | 5% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,000 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Rohnert Park, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Work in the towns next to Rohnert Park
The biggest share goes to Cotati (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Rohnert Park workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rohnert Park | – | B | A− | 27 min | $99,273 |
| Cotati | 2% | A− | A | 29 min | $110,750 |
| Sonoma State University | under 2% | — | A+ | 13 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Rohnert Park’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 Rohnert Park: questions
What is the median household income in Rohnert Park?
$99,273 (±$5,890) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rohnert Park?
10.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rohnert Park?
27 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rohnert Park work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Santa Rosa (18%, 7 mi), Petaluma (11%, 8 mi), San Francisco (7%, 42 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rohnert Park walkable?
Rohnert Park is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 12.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rohnert Park without a car?
1% 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 Rohnert Park, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rohnert Park
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.