Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0More people are out of work in Stockton (8.6%) than in 91% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 3.9 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 0.5 in Tracy. Stockton grades C+ for jobs and income and A− for walkability. 8% of workers have no commute at all (California 17%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Stockton
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Stockton is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #585 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Stockton’s grade up (ahead of 79% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Stockton stays C+.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 79,925 residents head out to work, 38,796 work right here, and 65,433 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.88 per resident).
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 Stockton goes to work
Where Stockton clocks in
4% 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.
Inside Stockton’s 104,229 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Stockton, 2013 → 2023: 90,931 → 104,229. 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 Stockton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Stockton takes about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Stockton workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 123,215 commuters (the 8% 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.
Where in the region Stockton works
About 26% 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.
Stockton is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Stockton is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #413 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.4% 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 133,960 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 92% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 47% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 80% 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). 7.2% of Stockton households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Stockton’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Out of 65 U.S. towns of 227,000 to 438,000, Stockton comes 52nd on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Oyster Bay NY | 301,115 | $160K | 3.9% | 4.6% | 19% | A |
| 3 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Santa Clarita CA | 228,430 | $123K | 7.4% | 5.6% | 21% | A− |
| 13 | Irvine CA | 318,764 | $137K | 10.8% | 5.9% | 29% | B+ |
| 14 | Santa Ana CA | 315,586 | $94K | 10.8% | 4.8% | 18% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Greensboro NC | 308,667 | $62K | 17.0% | 5.1% | 49% | C+ |
| 51 | Richmond VA | 237,257 | $65K | 18.2% | 5.7% | 36% | C+ |
| 52 | Stockton CA | 324,597 | $80K | 15.5% | 8.6% | 33% | C+ |
| 53 | St. Louis MO | 278,144 | $56K | 20.6% | 5.0% | 39% | C+ |
| 54 | Pittsburgh PA | 307,632 | $66K | 20.1% | 6.1% | 55% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Cleveland OH | 363,608 | $41K | 30.6% | 10.8% | 42% | C− |
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 Stockton, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Work in the towns next to Stockton
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Stockton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stockton | – | C+ | A− | 32 min | $79,907 |
| Kennedy | under 2% | B− | A− | 43 min | $70,213 |
| August | under 2% | C− | B | 47 min | $53,173 |
| French Camp | under 2% | B− | A− | 26 min | $90,893 |
| Garden Acres | under 2% | C | B | 41 min | $66,474 |
| Morada | under 2% | A | C− | 27 min | $96,896 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Stockton’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 Stockton: questions
What is the median household income in Stockton?
$79,907 (±$2,147) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Stockton?
15.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Stockton?
32 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Stockton work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lodi (4%, 10 mi), Tracy (4%, 19 mi), Sacramento (3%, 42 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Stockton walkable?
Stockton is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 13.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Stockton without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 47% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Stockton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Stockton
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.