Photo: Brittneal · CC BY-SA 4.0More people are out of work in Shafter (5.8%) than in 72% of U.S. towns
Shafter grades C for jobs and income and B for walkability. Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, against 17% across California. About one in five work in Shafter; the top destination outside it is Bakersfield (23%, 13 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Shafter: the figures worth knowing
Jobs in Shafter have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Shafter went from 5,490 in 2013 to 11,674 in 2023, +113%. The jobs ↓
Shafter and Bakersfield trade workers both ways
Bakersfield is the top workplace for Shafter residents (23%) and also where the most people who work in Shafter come from (26% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Shafter is where the jobs are
Shafter has 11,674 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
48% of the jobs in Shafter are in trade, transport and utilities, against 20% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Few Shafter workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 17% across California. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Jobs & income in Shafter: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Shafter is better than 31% of U.S. towns, #646 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Shafter’s grade up (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (20.7%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Shafter could be anywhere from C− to B−.
36% of the jobs in Shafter make or build things
11,674 jobs are based in Shafter.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Shafter, 2013 → 2023: 5,490 → 11,674. 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 Shafter’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting in to Shafter: where workers come from
Where Shafter clocks in
23% of workers
4% 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.
Shafter by day and by night
On a workday 5,814 residents head out to work, 1,218 work right here, and 10,456 people come in from elsewhere.
About 29,000 people are in Shafter on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
1.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Time on the road from Shafter: about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Shafter workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,975 commuters (the 4% 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.
Miles to work from Shafter
About 24% 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.
Driving is how Shafter gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Shafter is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns, #612 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 8,341 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 31% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 5% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 44% 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). 4.0% of Shafter households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Shafter’s commuters take a bus or train.
1,297th of 1,577: where Shafter ranks among U.S. towns of 17,000 to 32,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Orinda CA | 19,507 | $250K | 2.2% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 119 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 133 | Lafayette CA | 25,313 | $228K | 2.9% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,295 | Faribault MN | 25,040 | $61K | 16.4% | 5.4% | 39% | C |
| 1,296 | Los Lunas NM | 20,572 | $62K | 18.2% | 4.9% | 17% | C |
| 1,297 | Shafter CA | 23,871 | $71K | 20.7% | 5.8% | 17% | C |
| 1,298 | Wildwood FL | 19,436 | $77K | 12.8% | 7.5% | 20% | C |
| 1,299 | Alton IL | 25,013 | $55K | 21.0% | 5.4% | 21% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,577 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Shafter, 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 Shafter: questions
What is the median household income in Shafter?
$71,215 (±$7,458) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Shafter?
20.7%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Shafter?
23 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Shafter work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Bakersfield (23%, 13 mi), Wasco (4%, 12 mi), Delano (3%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Shafter walkable?
Shafter is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Shafter without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 5% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Shafter, from the people who make the trip.
More of Shafter
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.