With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Sky Valley works elsewhere
There are 257 jobs in Sky Valley for 814 working residents. Sky Valley grades D for jobs and income and B for walkability. Measured by household income, Sky Valley is behind 86% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Sky Valley
A big share show a job far from home
41% 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 ↓
Sky Valley workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 34 minutes each way, against 29 across California. Over a year that’s about 261 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. 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; with 814 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Sky Valley
On income, poverty and job access, Sky Valley is better than 12% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Sky Valley’s grade up (ahead of 31% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($51,190, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (9.5%) is left out: Sky 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, Sky Valley could be anywhere from D to C.
The distance from Sky Valley to work
About 41% 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.
The daily trip from Sky Valley: about 34 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sky Valley workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 661 commuters (the 18% 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 Sky Valley, and who commutes in
On a workday 778 residents head out to work, 36 work right here, and 221 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Sky Valley on a workday afternoon, 25% 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.
9% of working residents work in Palm Springs
Where Sky Valley clocks in
9% of workers
8% of workers
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.
Goods, not services: 35% of the jobs in Sky Valley
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sky Valley, 2013 → 2023: 161 → 257. 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 Sky Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Sky Valley, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sky Valley is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 6.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 5.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 804 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 0.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 50% 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). 2.3% of Sky Valley households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sky Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Sky Valley is 4,287th of 5,102 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Harmony Grove CA | 2,585 | $227K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Rolling Hills CA | 1,641 | $250K | 5.5% | 5.6% | 2% | A+ |
| 74 | Ross CA | 2,304 | $250K | 4.8% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,285 | Davis OK | 2,836 | $52K | 18.3% | 5.6% | 14% | D |
| 4,286 | Colby WI | 1,957 | $50K | 19.1% | 1.4% | 11% | D |
| 4,287 | Sky Valley CA | 2,255 | $51K | 17.6% | 9.5% | 4% | D |
| 4,288 | Texanna OK | 2,401 | $51K | 10.6% | 5.2% | 2% | D |
| 4,289 | Marion MS | 1,721 | $47K | 21.2% | 7.2% | 2% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,102 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Sky Valley, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Sky Valley and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Thousand Palms (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sky Valley workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sky Valley | – | D | B | 34 min | $51,190 |
| Thousand Palms | 3% | B− | B | 22 min | $77,000 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sky Valley’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 Sky Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Sky Valley?
$51,190 (±$8,837) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sky Valley?
17.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sky Valley?
34 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sky Valley work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Palm Springs (9%, 12 mi), Palm Desert (8%, 11 mi), Indio (6%, 13 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sky Valley walkable?
Sky Valley is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sky Valley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sky Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sky 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.