Photo: Daniel Mayer (mav) · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes put Westmorland near the very bottom of U.S. towns
Westmorland grades D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Measured by household income, Westmorland is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. Below the poverty line: 48.6% of residents, next to 12.0% for California as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Westmorland and work: the main findings
A big share show a job far from home
45% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Commutes from Westmorland are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. 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 546 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Westmorland’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Westmorland is better than 2% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Westmorland’s grade up (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
Unemployment (14.2%) is left out: Westmorland’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Westmorland stays D−.
How far it is to work from Westmorland
About 45% 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.
From Westmorland, about 22 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Westmorland workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 525 commuters (the 9% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Westmorland
On a workday 497 residents head out to work, 49 work right here, and 247 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,800 people are in Westmorland on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.54 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
12% of working residents work in El Centro
Where Westmorland clocks in
12% of workers
12% of workers
4% 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 Westmorland: what the 296 are
296 jobs are based in Westmorland.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Westmorland, 2013 → 2023: 199 → 296. 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 Westmorland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Westmorland
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Westmorland is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Westmorland 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 578 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). 5.1% of Westmorland households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Westmorland’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Westmorland compares with U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Baywood Park CA | 1,580 | $217K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Harmony Grove CA | 2,585 | $227K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Irwindale CA | 1,439 | $114K | 4.3% | 6.5% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,297 | Lost Hills CA | 1,926 | $46K | 24.2% | 5.8% | 8% | D− |
| 5,298 | Lewiston CA | 2,020 | $40K | 17.6% | 4.7% | 6% | D− |
| 5,299 | Westmorland CA | 2,015 | $29K | 48.6% | 14.2% | 9% | D− |
| 5,300 | Cedaredge CO | 2,448 | $48K | 20.6% | 9.3% | 12% | D− |
| 5,301 | Wewahitchka FL | 2,213 | $44K | 20.1% | 2.0% | 13% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | 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 Westmorland, 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 Westmorland: questions
What is the median household income in Westmorland?
$28,839 (±$21,592) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Westmorland?
48.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Westmorland?
22 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Westmorland work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are El Centro (12%, 18 mi), Brawley (12%, 7 mi), San Diego (4%, 88 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Westmorland walkable?
Westmorland is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.3 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Westmorland without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Westmorland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Westmorland
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.