Photo: Pgnielsen79 · CC BY 3.0Santa Paula has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.8 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 2.5 in San Buenaventura (Ventura). Santa Paula has 5,755 jobs, and 14,879 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Santa Paula are C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Santa Paula at work: what stands out
Income, poverty and work: Santa Paula’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Santa Paula is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #589 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Santa Paula’s grade up (ahead of 64% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.8%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Santa Paula could be anywhere from C to B−.
Santa Paula works in goods: 42% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Santa Paula, 2013 → 2023: 5,519 → 5,755. 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 Santa Paula’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Santa Paula on a workday afternoon
On a workday 13,135 residents head out to work, 1,744 work right here, and 4,011 people come in from elsewhere.
About 23,000 people are in Santa Paula on a workday afternoon, 29% 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.
14% of working residents work in San Buenaventura (Ventura)
Where Santa Paula clocks in
9% 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.
Time on the road from Santa Paula: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Santa Paula workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,577 commuters (the 5% 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 Santa Paula goes to work
About 27% 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.
Santa Paula is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Santa Paula is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns, #424 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.3% 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 14,253 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 25% 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 0.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 55% 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). 3.5% of Santa Paula households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Santa Paula’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 22,000 to 43,000, Santa Paula ranks 1,068th of 1,368 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Lafayette CA | 25,313 | $228K | 2.9% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,066 | Rosenberg TX | 42,701 | $66K | 20.2% | 5.9% | 15% | C+ |
| 1,067 | Goshen IN | 34,525 | $59K | 17.1% | 4.0% | 36% | C+ |
| 1,068 | Santa Paula CA | 31,774 | $79K | 14.2% | 6.8% | 12% | C+ |
| 1,069 | East Point GA | 38,225 | $69K | 19.9% | 6.9% | 5% | C+ |
| 1,070 | Oxford OH | 22,387 | $41K | 45.5% | 14.4% | 30% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,368 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Santa Paula, 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 Santa Paula: questions
What is the median household income in Santa Paula?
$79,294 (±$5,218) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Santa Paula?
14.2%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Santa Paula?
28 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Santa Paula work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Buenaventura (Ventura) (14%, 12 mi), Los Angeles (10%, 44 mi), Oxnard (9%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Santa Paula walkable?
Santa Paula is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Santa Paula without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Santa Paula, from the people who make the trip.
More of Santa Paula
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.