Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Sacramento has higher unemployment (6.6%) than 79% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 7.8 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 1.3 in Elk Grove. Jobs and income earn Sacramento B−; getting around on foot earns it A. About two in five work in Sacramento itself; outside it, Rancho Cordova draws the most (4%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sacramento at work: what stands out
Sacramento is where the jobs are
Sacramento has 318,054 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Most jobs in Sacramento pay over $40,000 a year
72% of the jobs based in Sacramento pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. 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.
Why Sacramento gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sacramento is better than 54% of U.S. towns, #472 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Sacramento’s grade up (ahead of 92% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sacramento could be anywhere from B− to B.
The daily commute in and out of Sacramento
On a workday 126,411 residents head out to work, 81,444 work right here, and 236,610 people come in from elsewhere.
About 647,000 people are in Sacramento on a workday afternoon, 21% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Health, schools and offices: most of the jobs in Sacramento
318,054 jobs are based in Sacramento.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sacramento, 2013 → 2023: 278,626 → 318,054. 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 Sacramento’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who travels to work in Sacramento, and from where
Where Sacramento clocks in
4% of workers
3% 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.
About 25 minutes each way, quicker than most of California
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sacramento workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 202,515 commuters (the 20% 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.
The distance from Sacramento to work
About 21% 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.
Sacramento 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, Sacramento is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns, #115 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Sacramento 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 252,246 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 93% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 40% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 7.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 91% 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). 8.4% of Sacramento households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Sacramento’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
14th of 32: where Sacramento ranks among U.S. towns of 376,000 to 724,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brookhaven NY | 496,410 | $120K | 7.0% | 5.2% | 32% | A− |
| 2 | Virginia Beach VA | 453,737 | $93K | 8.6% | 4.0% | 47% | A− |
| 3 | Mesa AZ | 513,656 | $83K | 10.3% | 4.2% | 24% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Oakland CA | 440,838 | $102K | 13.4% | 6.4% | 26% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Long Beach CA | 450,469 | $87K | 14.8% | 6.5% | 21% | B |
| 13 | Arlington TX | 402,134 | $75K | 12.9% | 5.7% | 22% | B− |
| 14 | Sacramento CA | 536,449 | $87K | 13.9% | 6.6% | 39% | B− |
| 15 | Atlanta GA | 529,110 | $86K | 16.9% | 5.9% | 43% | B− |
| 16 | Tampa FL | 413,554 | $75K | 15.5% | 4.9% | 42% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Bakersfield CA | 422,165 | $81K | 16.3% | 7.0% | 47% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Fresno CA | 555,549 | $71K | 20.1% | 8.9% | 56% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Detroit MI | 649,095 | $40K | 32.7% | 14.0% | 31% | C− |
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 Sacramento, the top three, the last and three more from California.
How Sacramento compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sacramento workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sacramento | – | B− | A | 25 min | $87,321 |
| Arden-Arcade | 3% | C+ | A | 26 min | $77,321 |
| West Sacramento | 4% | B | A | 25 min | $93,188 |
| Lemon Hill | under 2% | C− | A | 25 min | $48,762 |
| Florin | 2% | C+ | A− | 27 min | $71,111 |
| McClellan Park | under 2% | C− | A+ | 26 min | $23,750 |
| North Highlands | under 2% | C+ | A− | 31 min | $65,495 |
| Fruitridge Pocket | under 2% | C | A | 23 min | $62,528 |
| Parkway | under 2% | C | A | 25 min | $64,375 |
| Freeport | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Rosemont | under 2% | B | A | 28 min | $90,046 |
Same-state neighbors only. Freeport: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to West Sacramento. Darker towns draw more of Sacramento’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 Sacramento: questions
What is the median household income in Sacramento?
$87,321 (±$1,746) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sacramento?
13.9%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sacramento?
25 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sacramento work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Rancho Cordova (4%, 12 mi), West Sacramento (4%, 4 mi), Elk Grove (3%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sacramento walkable?
Sacramento is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.8 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sacramento without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 40% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sacramento, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sacramento
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.