Photo: Karl98007 · CC BY-SA 3.0At 12.4%, unemployment in Sonora is higher than in 98% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 10% of workers, next to 17% for California as a whole. The two grades for Sonora are C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in seven work in Sonora; the top destination outside it is East Sonora (4%, 2 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Sonora: the gist
No single place dominates Sonora’s commute
The biggest draw, East Sonora, gets only 4% of working residents, and 63% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Sonora residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
46% 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 ↓
Sonora is where the jobs are
Sonora has 4,315 jobs, 1.6 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
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.
Inside Sonora’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sonora is better than 18% of U.S. towns, #736 of 847 in California. Household income holds Sonora’s grade up ($82,690, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sonora could be anywhere from D to C+.
Where Sonora’s workers come from
Where Sonora clocks in
3% of workers
2% 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.
How far it is to work from Sonora
About 46% 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.
Who leaves Sonora for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,215 residents head out to work, 437 work right here, and 3,878 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,500 people are in Sonora on a workday afternoon, 34% more than live here.
1.6 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.
Inside Sonora’s 4,315 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sonora, 2013 → 2023: 4,835 → 4,315. 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 Sonora’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Sonora’s commute takes about 29 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sonora workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,942 commuters (the 10% 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.
Sonora is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sonora is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #510 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.2% 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 2,167 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 37% 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). 6.5% of Sonora households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Sonora’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,257th of 3,840: where Sonora ranks among U.S. towns of 3,400 to 6,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Del Mar CA | 3,858 | $199K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 75 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 84 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,255 | Robbins IL | 4,588 | $41K | 28.7% | 17.0% | 1% | C− |
| 3,256 | Pontotoc MS | 6,156 | $46K | 17.4% | 5.4% | 28% | C− |
| 3,257 | Sonora CA | 4,866 | $83K | 16.9% | 12.4% | 16% | C− |
| 3,258 | Rossville GA | 3,922 | $59K | 14.1% | 8.5% | 2% | C− |
| 3,259 | Valley City ND | 6,430 | $60K | 16.7% | 4.9% | 55% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,840 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Sonora, the top three, the last and three more from California.
How Sonora compares with the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sonora workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sonora | – | C− | B+ | 29 min | $82,690 |
| East Sonora | 4% | B | C+ | 19 min | $77,574 |
| Jamestown | under 2% | C+ | A | 20 min | $57,276 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to East Sonora. Darker towns draw more of Sonora’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 Sonora: questions
What is the median household income in Sonora?
$82,690 (±$25,362) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sonora?
16.9%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sonora?
29 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sonora work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are East Sonora (4%, 2 mi), Sacramento (3%, 72 mi), Tuolumne City (2%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sonora walkable?
Sonora is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 10.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sonora without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sonora, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sonora
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.