Photo: Finetooth · CC BY-SA 3.0Truckee’s household incomes are higher than in 92% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.9 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 17.5 in Los Angeles. 9.0% of residents are in poverty, against 12.0% across California. Jobs and income earn Truckee 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
Getting to work from Truckee, in brief
Many of the people who work in Truckee live in another state
Reno, NV (14%), Sparks, NV (3%) and Incline Village, NV (1%) are among the top places Truckee’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 20% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
Home offices are common in Truckee
30% of Truckee workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Truckee 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 ↓
Truckee has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Truckee went from 5,738 in 2013 to 8,342 in 2023, +45%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Truckee’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Truckee is better than 45% of U.S. towns, #539 of 847 in California. Household income holds Truckee’s grade up ($130,462, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 19% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Truckee could be anywhere from C to B.
5% of working residents work in Reno
Where Truckee clocks in
5% 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.
About 21 minutes each way for Truckee’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Truckee workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,146 commuters (the 30% 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.
66% of the jobs in Truckee pay over $3,333 a month
8,342 jobs are based in Truckee.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Truckee, 2013 → 2023: 5,738 → 8,342. 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 Truckee’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Truckee: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 4,779 residents head out to work, 3,213 work right here, and 5,129 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 (1.04 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.
How far it is to work from Truckee
About 28% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Truckee
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Truckee is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns, #247 of 847 in California. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 8.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 8,834 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 23% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 12% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 68% 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). 3.1% of Truckee households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Truckee’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Truckee ranks: 1,359th of 1,999 U.S. towns of 12,000 to 23,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Orinda CA | 19,507 | $250K | 2.2% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Alamo CA | 14,488 | $250K | 2.1% | 3.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 121 | Coto de Caza CA | 15,190 | $244K | 3.0% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,357 | Shepherdsville KY | 14,931 | $71K | 21.5% | 4.2% | 15% | B− |
| 1,358 | Cimarron Hills CO | 19,817 | $81K | 10.6% | 7.0% | 4% | B− |
| 1,359 | Truckee CA | 17,278 | $130K | 9.0% | 6.6% | 40% | B− |
| 1,360 | Southern Pines NC | 17,357 | $89K | 9.6% | 6.7% | 19% | B− |
| 1,361 | Piqua OH | 21,064 | $68K | 17.6% | 3.7% | 23% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,999 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Truckee, the top three, the last and three more from California.
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 Truckee: questions
What is the median household income in Truckee?
$130,462 (±$17,696) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Truckee?
9.0%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Truckee?
21 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 30% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Truckee work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Reno (5%, 23 mi), Sunnyside-Tahoe City (3%, 14 mi), Sacramento (2%, 87 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Truckee walkable?
Truckee is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Truckee without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 12% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Truckee, from the people who make the trip.
More of Truckee
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.