Photo: Cullen328 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Sonoma are higher than in 76% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 1.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 1.0 in Santa Rosa. 10.4% of residents live below the poverty line, where California as a whole has 12.0%. Jobs and income earn Sonoma B−; getting around on foot earns it A+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Sonoma: the gist
Sonoma is where the jobs are
Sonoma has 6,429 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
No single place dominates Sonoma’s commute
The biggest draw, Santa Rosa, gets only 6% of working residents, and 50% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Sonoma residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
The biggest group of Sonoma’s workers comes from Santa Rosa
395 of the people who work in Sonoma live in Santa Rosa, 17 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
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.
The figures behind Sonoma’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sonoma is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #491 of 847 in California. Household income holds Sonoma’s grade up ($98,527, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sonoma could be anywhere from C to A−.
In and out of Sonoma on a workday
On a workday 3,049 residents head out to work, 811 work right here, and 5,618 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Sonoma on a workday afternoon, 24% 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.
Where Sonoma’s workers come from
Where Sonoma clocks in
6% of workers
5% 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.
What the 6,429 jobs in Sonoma are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sonoma, 2013 → 2023: 5,737 → 6,429. 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 Sonoma’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Sonoma: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sonoma workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,736 commuters (the 23% 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.
Sonoma’s commute, mile by mile
About 17% 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: Sonoma
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sonoma is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns, #88 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Sonoma 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 4,838 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 90% 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 1.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 59% 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). 4.4% of Sonoma households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sonoma’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sonoma next to U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000: 1,658th of 2,878 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 15 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,656 | North Merritt Island FL | 9,025 | $105K | 6.9% | 7.0% | 4% | B− |
| 1,657 | Whitehouse TX | 9,970 | $99K | 10.9% | 6.4% | 5% | B− |
| 1,658 | Sonoma CA | 10,537 | $99K | 10.4% | 5.7% | 21% | B− |
| 1,659 | Summit IL | 10,753 | $62K | 11.2% | 5.5% | 6% | B− |
| 1,660 | Hood River OR | 8,315 | $86K | 10.8% | 3.3% | 36% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Sonoma, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Sonoma and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to El Verano (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Sonoma’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 Sonoma: questions
What is the median household income in Sonoma?
$98,527 (±$8,349) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sonoma?
10.4%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sonoma?
25 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sonoma work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Santa Rosa (6%, 17 mi), San Francisco (5%, 36 mi), Napa (5%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sonoma walkable?
Sonoma is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.3 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sonoma without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 14% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sonoma, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sonoma
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.