Household incomes in Upper Lake top those of 84% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles. 10.5% of residents are in poverty (California 12.0%). Jobs and income earn Upper Lake 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
Inside Upper Lake’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Upper Lake is better than 48% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Upper Lake’s grade up ($110,417, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 14% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.2%) is left out: Upper Lake’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Upper Lake could be anywhere from D to B+.
How a workday changes Upper Lake
On a workday 276 residents head out to work, 46 work right here, and 449 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,500 people are in Upper Lake on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
1.5 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.
The daily trip into Upper Lake
Where Upper Lake clocks in
12% of workers
10% 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 495 jobs based in Upper Lake
495 jobs are based in Upper Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Upper Lake, 2013 → 2023: 467 → 495. 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 Upper Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Upper Lake’s commute takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Upper Lake workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 727 commuters (the 7% 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.
How far it is to work from Upper Lake
About 19% 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.
In Upper Lake, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Upper Lake is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Upper Lake 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 783 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 96% 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 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 53% 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). 3.7% of Upper Lake households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Upper Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Upper Lake is 2,188th among 5,877 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Castle Hill CA | 1,026 | $250K | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| 19 | Acalanes Ridge CA | 1,006 | $181K | 1.5% | 7.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,186 | Moreland Township PA | 1,031 | $95K | 12.0% | 4.2% | 1% | B− |
| 2,187 | Haines AK | 1,757 | $87K | 5.2% | 5.8% | — | B− |
| 2,188 | Upper Lake CA | 1,374 | $110K | 10.5% | 2.2% | 14% | B− |
| 2,189 | Passapatanzy VA | 1,259 | $126K | 25.7% | 6.0% | <1% | B− |
| 2,190 | Herscher IL | 1,486 | $92K | 12.1% | 5.5% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Upper Lake, 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 Upper Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Upper Lake?
$110,417 (±$57,210) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Upper Lake?
10.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Upper Lake?
26 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Upper Lake work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lakeport (12%, 9 mi), Ukiah (10%, 16 mi), Nice (9%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Upper Lake walkable?
Upper Lake is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.3 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Upper Lake without a car?
0% 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 Upper Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Upper Lake
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.