Photo: Wulfnoth of English Wikipedia · CC BY 3.0At 6.3%, unemployment in Santa Rosa is higher than in 77% of U.S. towns
Measured by household income, Santa Rosa is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns. The two grades for Santa Rosa are B for jobs and income and A for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.0 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 17.5 in Los Angeles.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Santa Rosa: the figures worth knowing
Income, poverty and work: Santa Rosa’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Santa Rosa is better than 60% of U.S. towns, #405 of 847 in California. Household income holds Santa Rosa’s grade up ($99,060, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Santa Rosa could be anywhere from B− to B+.
A commute of about 23 minutes in Santa Rosa
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Santa Rosa workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 77,927 commuters (the 12% 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.
Who commutes out of Santa Rosa, and who commutes in
On a workday 47,756 residents head out to work, 25,506 work right here, and 41,187 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.91 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
6% of working residents work in Petaluma
Where Santa Rosa clocks in
6% 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.
68% of the jobs in Santa Rosa pay over $3,333 a month
66,693 jobs are based in Santa Rosa.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Santa Rosa, 2013 → 2023: 63,482 → 66,693. 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 Rosa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Santa Rosa
About 20% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Santa Rosa
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Santa Rosa is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #294 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Santa Rosa 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 88,080 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 42% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 13% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 57% 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). 6.2% of Santa Rosa households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Santa Rosa’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Among U.S. towns of 126,000 to 242,000, Santa Rosa ranks 66th of 163 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pearland TX | 129,930 | $119K | 4.1% | 3.3% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 3 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 10 | Fremont CA | 226,442 | $182K | 5.2% | 4.7% | 17% | A |
| 11 | Sunnyvale CA | 156,577 | $186K | 5.8% | 4.5% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Santa Clara CA | 133,446 | $179K | 8.4% | 5.1% | 14% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Grand Prairie TX | 209,434 | $82K | 12.1% | 5.2% | 12% | B |
| 65 | Cedar Rapids IA | 137,935 | $70K | 10.8% | 3.6% | 57% | B |
| 66 | Santa Rosa CA | 179,437 | $99K | 9.7% | 6.3% | 35% | B |
| 67 | College Station TX | 127,472 | $51K | 29.2% | 5.1% | 35% | B |
| 68 | Garden Grove CA | 170,455 | $92K | 12.3% | 6.0% | 10% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 163 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Rosa, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Around Santa Rosa: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to Sebastopol (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Santa Rosa workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Rosa | – | B | A | 23 min | $99,060 |
| Sebastopol | 1% | B | A+ | 24 min | $87,684 |
| Fulton | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Larkfield-Wikiup | 1% | B+ | B+ | 20 min | $97,071 |
Same-state neighbors only. Fulton: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Santa Rosa’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 Santa Rosa: questions
What is the median household income in Santa Rosa?
$99,060 (±$3,788) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Santa Rosa?
9.7%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Santa Rosa?
23 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Santa Rosa work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Petaluma (6%, 15 mi), Rohnert Park (5%, 7 mi), San Francisco (4%, 49 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Santa Rosa walkable?
Santa Rosa is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.5 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Santa Rosa without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 13% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Santa Rosa, from the people who make the trip.
More of Santa Rosa
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.