San Miguel ranks among the highest-earning U.S. towns by household income
Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. Below the poverty line: 1.8% of residents, where California as a whole has 12.0%. For jobs and income San Miguel is better than 91% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in San Miguel
A lot of San Miguel works from home
33% of San Miguel workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
San Miguel is a place people come home to
There are 197 jobs based in San Miguel, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday San Miguel has about 2,700 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Four in five San Miguel workers earn over $40,000 a year
80% of San Miguel’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. The jobs ↓
San Miguel’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside San Miguel is San Francisco, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 17% of working residents (238) 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.
The figures behind San Miguel’s Jobs & income grade
Household income holds San Miguel’s grade up ($250,000+, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
The Census reports San Miguel’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 fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, San Miguel could be anywhere from A− to A+.
About 30 minutes each way, about the CA average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of San Miguel workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,234 commuters (the 33% 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 a workday changes San Miguel
On a workday 1,420 residents head out to work, 17 work right here, and 180 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in San Miguel on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer than live here.
0.14 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.
What work there is in San Miguel: 197 jobs
197 jobs are based in San Miguel.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in San Miguel, 2013 → 2023: 195 → 197. 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 San Miguel’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from San Miguel
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.
17% of working residents work in San Francisco
Where San Miguel clocks in
14% of workers
7% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: San Miguel
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 8.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,836 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 37% 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 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 54% 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). 0.7% of San Miguel households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 10% of San Miguel’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, San Miguel is 368th of 4,177 U.S. towns of 2,800 to 5,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Del Mar CA | 3,858 | $199K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 75 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 122 | La Habra Heights CA | 5,327 | $180K | 4.9% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 366 | Middletown MD | 5,056 | $173K | 1.1% | 4.0% | 5% | A |
| 367 | Charlton NY | 4,362 | $107K | 5.0% | 0.7% | 4% | A |
| 368 | San Miguel CA | 3,967 | $250K | 1.8% | 5.7% | 1% | A |
| 369 | Shorewood Forest IN | 3,263 | $166K | 8.6% | 1.3% | 1% | A |
| 370 | Watertown MN | 4,789 | $100K | 7.7% | 0.0% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 4,177 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 San Miguel, 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 San Miguel: questions
What is the median household income in San Miguel?
$250,000+ (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in San Miguel?
1.8%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from San Miguel?
30 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 33% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in San Miguel work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Francisco (17%, 23 mi), Walnut Creek (14%, 1 mi), Oakland (7%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is San Miguel walkable?
San Miguel is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around San Miguel without a car?
10% 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 San Miguel, from the people who make the trip.
More of San Miguel
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.