Photo: SkiDragon · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Rosamond (9.1%) than in 92% of U.S. towns
About one in ten stay in Rosamond for work; outside it, Lancaster is the main destination (21%, 12 miles). Rosamond grades C− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. For 8% of workers, the job is at home, where California as a whole has 17%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Rosamond and work: the main findings
Rosamond and Lancaster trade workers both ways
Lancaster is the top workplace for Rosamond residents (21%) and also where the most people who work in Rosamond come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
40% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Rosamond
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rosamond is better than 20% of U.S. towns, #712 of 847 in California. Household income holds Rosamond’s grade up ($79,386, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rosamond could be anywhere from D to C.
Where Rosamond’s working residents head each day
Where Rosamond clocks in
21% 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.
How far it is to work from Rosamond
About 40% 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.
How many people are in Rosamond by day
On a workday 5,515 residents head out to work, 540 work right here, and 930 people come in from elsewhere.
About 17,000 people are in Rosamond on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
0.24 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.
The kinds of work in Rosamond
1,470 jobs are based in Rosamond.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rosamond, 2013 → 2023: 1,279 → 1,470. 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 Rosamond’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Rosamond: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rosamond workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,880 commuters (the 8% 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.
In Rosamond, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rosamond is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns, #736 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Rosamond 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 8,549 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 11% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 11% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 52% 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). 5.0% of Rosamond households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Rosamond’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Rosamond is 1,604th among 1,787 U.S. towns of 15,000 to 29,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Wolf Trap VA | 15,858 | $250K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Orinda CA | 19,507 | $250K | 2.2% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 116 | Coto de Caza CA | 15,190 | $244K | 3.0% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 161 | Lafayette CA | 25,313 | $228K | 2.9% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,602 | St. Andrews SC | 19,868 | $47K | 25.4% | 7.2% | 3% | C− |
| 1,603 | The Dalles OR | 15,745 | $63K | 11.0% | 7.7% | 41% | C− |
| 1,604 | Rosamond CA | 21,473 | $79K | 17.1% | 9.1% | 9% | C− |
| 1,605 | Hopewell VA | 23,261 | $55K | 21.8% | 9.2% | 12% | C− |
| 1,606 | Greenfield MA | 17,691 | $56K | 15.2% | 6.3% | 26% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,787 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Rosamond, 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.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Rosamond: questions
What is the median household income in Rosamond?
$79,386 (±$8,656) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rosamond?
17.1%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rosamond?
31 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rosamond work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lancaster (21%, 12 mi), Palmdale (10%, 20 mi), Los Angeles (6%, 60 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rosamond walkable?
Rosamond is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rosamond without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 11% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rosamond, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rosamond
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.