Photo: Photo by John Pilge. · Public domainScotts Valley’s household incomes are higher than in 94% of U.S. towns
Scotts Valley grades A for jobs and income and A for walkability. Below the poverty line: 5.9% of residents, next to 12.0% for California as a whole. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 5.4 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
What sets Scotts Valley apart on work
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Scotts Valley
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Scotts Valley is better than 88% of U.S. towns, #91 of 847 in California. Household income is its strongest input ($143,750, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 66% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Scotts Valley could be anywhere from B+ to A+.
Each way, about 25 minutes from Scotts Valley
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Scotts Valley workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,440 commuters (the 26% 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.
Scotts Valley on a workday afternoon
On a workday 4,711 residents head out to work, 641 work right here, and 5,890 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Scotts Valley on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.22 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.
13% of working residents work in San Jose
Where Scotts Valley clocks in
13% of workers
12% 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.
67% of the jobs in Scotts Valley pay over $3,333 a month
6,531 jobs are based in Scotts Valley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Scotts Valley, 2013 → 2023: 6,422 → 6,531. 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 Scotts Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Scotts Valley commutes
About 15% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Scotts Valley
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Scotts Valley is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #176 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Scotts Valley 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 6,011 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 73% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 14% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 85% 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). 5.8% of Scotts Valley households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Scotts Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Scotts Valley ranks: 524th of 2,695 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 142 | Alamo CA | 14,488 | $250K | 2.1% | 3.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 522 | Jackson Township PA | 9,348 | $84K | 4.7% | 0.9% | 12% | A |
| 523 | Edgewater MD | 8,519 | $114K | 4.6% | 3.9% | 7% | A |
| 524 | Scotts Valley CA | 11,652 | $144K | 5.9% | 2.9% | 12% | A |
| 525 | Sanger TX | 10,238 | $91K | 7.4% | 1.4% | 8% | A |
| 526 | Lumberton TX | 14,123 | $108K | 3.7% | 2.5% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Scotts Valley, 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 Scotts Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Scotts Valley?
$143,750 (±$24,347) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Scotts Valley?
5.9%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Scotts Valley?
25 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Scotts Valley work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Jose (13%, 20 mi), Santa Cruz (12%, 6 mi), Santa Clara (3%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Scotts Valley walkable?
Scotts Valley is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.3 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Scotts Valley without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 14% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Scotts Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Scotts Valley
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.