Photo: Marshman at English Wikipedia / Eric Guinther · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Weed are lower than in 97% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles. Below the poverty line: 33.6% of residents, where California as a whole has 12.0%. Jobs and income earn Weed D−; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Weed stands out on work
Commutes from Weed are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Weed workers work from home
Only 3% of workers work from home, against 17% across California. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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; with 945 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Weed’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Weed is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #843 of 847 in California. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Weed’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Weed could be anywhere from D− to D.
A commute of about 17 minutes in Weed
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Weed workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 891 commuters (the 3% 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.
Weed by day and by night
On a workday 695 residents head out to work, 250 work right here, and 959 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,900 people are in Weed on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.28 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.
16% of working residents work in Mount Shasta
Where Weed clocks in
10% of workers
5% 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.
Jobs in Weed: what the 1,209 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Weed, 2013 → 2023: 1,273 → 1,209. 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 Weed’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Weed
About 29% 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.
Weed is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Weed is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #184 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Weed 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 919 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 64% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 29% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 47% 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). 9.8% of Weed households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Weed’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Weed compares with U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Harmony Grove CA | 2,585 | $227K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Ross CA | 2,304 | $250K | 4.8% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | Fairbanks Ranch CA | 2,703 | $250K | 5.5% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,045 | San Augustine TX | 1,839 | $28K | 46.0% | 8.9% | 18% | D− |
| 5,046 | Hamburg AR | 2,364 | $34K | 32.5% | 4.4% | 19% | D− |
| 5,047 | Weed CA | 2,603 | $39K | 33.6% | 11.7% | 26% | D− |
| 5,048 | Durant MS | 1,958 | $30K | 31.8% | 0.0% | 6% | D− |
| 5,049 | Licking MO | 2,958 | $36K | 37.5% | 20.4% | 16% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Weed, 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 Weed: questions
What is the median household income in Weed?
$38,854 (±$8,003) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Weed?
33.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Weed?
17 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Weed work?
26% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mount Shasta (16%, 7 mi), Yreka (10%, 25 mi), Redding (5%, 58 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Weed walkable?
Weed is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.2 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Weed without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 29% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Weed, from the people who make the trip.
More of Weed
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.