Beringer Brothers-Los Hermanos Winery · Photo: Frank Schulenburg · CC BY-SA 4.0St. Helena has higher household incomes than 95% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 5.1% (California 12.0%). For jobs and income St. Helena is better than 76% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (A). About one in four work in St. Helena; the top destination outside it is Napa (7%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where St. Helena stands out on work
St. Helena is where the jobs are
St. Helena has 5,399 jobs, 2.4 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 8,300 people are in town, 60% more than the 5,200 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from St. Helena are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
St. Helena makes and builds things
44% of the jobs based in St. Helena are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs St. Helena residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 31%. The jobs ↓
The biggest group of St. Helena’s workers comes from Napa
1,295 of the people who work in St. Helena live in Napa, 17 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Most jobs in St. Helena pay over $40,000 a year
72% of the jobs based in St. Helena pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in St. Helena
Household income holds St. Helena’s grade up ($148,750, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, St. Helena could be anywhere from B to A.
In and out of St. Helena on a workday
On a workday 1,681 residents head out to work, 607 work right here, and 4,792 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,300 people are in St. Helena on a workday afternoon, 60% more than live here.
2.4 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.
Getting to work from St. Helena takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of St. Helena workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,966 commuters (the 20% 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.
St. Helena makes things: 44% of its jobs are in goods
5,399 jobs are based in St. Helena.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in St. Helena, 2013 → 2023: 4,904 → 5,399. 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 St. Helena’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the people who work in St. Helena live
Where St. Helena clocks in
7% 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.
The commute from St. Helena, by distance
About 21% 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: St. Helena
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 8.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,443 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). 4.4% of St. Helena households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of St. Helena’s commuters take a bus or train.
How St. Helena ranks: 983rd of 3,696 U.S. towns of 3,600 to 7,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Del Mar CA | 3,858 | $199K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 85 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 981 | Breckenridge CO | 5,015 | $138K | 8.3% | 0.5% | 41% | A− |
| 982 | Greendale IN | 4,598 | $75K | 10.2% | 0.4% | 9% | A− |
| 983 | St. Helena CA | 5,194 | $149K | 5.1% | 4.6% | 27% | A− |
| 984 | Clear Creek Township IN | 5,228 | $84K | 3.2% | 2.7% | 4% | A− |
| 985 | Glenburn ME | 4,825 | $97K | 7.1% | 1.6% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,696 | 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 St. Helena, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Work in the towns next to St. Helena
The biggest share goes to Deer Park (4%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | St. Helena workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Helena | – | A− | A | 21 min | $148,750 |
| Deer Park | 4% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Deer Park: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of St. Helena’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 St. Helena: questions
What is the median household income in St. Helena?
$148,750 (±$24,881) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in St. Helena?
5.1%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from St. Helena?
21 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in St. Helena work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Napa (7%, 17 mi), Deer Park (4%, 2 mi), San Francisco (4%, 51 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is St. Helena walkable?
St. Helena is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around St. Helena without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from St. Helena, from the people who make the trip.
More of St. Helena
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.