Searles Valley’s household incomes are lower than in 70% of U.S. towns
8% of workers work from home (California 17%). Below the poverty line: 24.3% of residents, next to 12.0% for California as a whole. For jobs and income Searles Valley is better than 5% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (C+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Searles Valley stands out on work
A big share show a job far from home
65% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Searles Valley makes and builds things
82% of the jobs based in Searles Valley are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Searles Valley residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 27%. The jobs ↓
The jobs in Searles Valley pay better than its residents’ jobs
84% of the jobs based in Searles Valley pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 50% of the jobs Searles Valley residents hold. 74% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Searles Valley. 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; with 703 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Searles Valley’s Jobs & income grade comes from
Household income holds Searles Valley’s grade up ($62,500, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (11.1%) is left out: Searles Valley’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Searles Valley could be anywhere from D− to C−.
The distance from Searles Valley to work
About 65% 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.
Goods jobs make up 82% of work in Searles Valley
586 jobs are based in Searles Valley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Searles Valley, 2013 → 2023: 943 → 586. 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 Searles Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of Searles Valley on a workday
On a workday 549 residents head out to work, 154 work right here, and 432 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 (0.83 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.
11% of working residents work in Ridgecrest
Where Searles Valley clocks in
11% of workers
4% 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.
From Searles Valley, about 21 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Searles Valley workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 435 commuters (the 8% 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.
Few in Searles Valley walk, bike or ride to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 5.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 472 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 10.7% of Searles Valley households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Searles Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Searles Valley and other U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Baywood Park CA | 1,580 | $217K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | Irwindale CA | 1,439 | $114K | 4.3% | 6.5% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,261 | South Branch Township MI | 1,779 | $52K | 16.7% | 8.0% | 4% | D |
| 5,262 | Leon NY | 1,259 | $56K | 21.8% | 2.5% | 1% | D |
| 5,263 | Searles Valley CA | 1,713 | $63K | 24.3% | 11.1% | 22% | D |
| 5,264 | Collinsville AL | 2,121 | $32K | 26.0% | 2.2% | 8% | D− |
| 5,265 | Guin AL | 2,136 | $51K | 18.3% | 11.2% | 18% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Searles 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 Searles Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Searles Valley?
$62,500 (±$9,925) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Searles Valley?
24.3%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Searles Valley?
21 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Searles Valley work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ridgecrest (11%, 18 mi), Los Angeles (11%, 134 mi), San Bernardino (4%, 113 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Searles Valley walkable?
Searles Valley is more walkable than 37% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Searles Valley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Searles Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Searles 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.