Photo: Jeremy Weate · CC BY 2.0Unemployment in Willits (10.3%) is higher than in 95% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 7% of workers; California has 17%. Willits grades C− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. 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.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Willits: the gist
Willits’ Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Willits is better than 15% of U.S. towns, #753 of 847 in California. The poverty rate holds Willits’ grade up (9.9%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Willits could be anywhere from D to B.
Time on the road from Willits: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Willits workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,769 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.
Willits on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,003 residents head out to work, 655 work right here, and 1,745 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,500 people are in Willits on a workday afternoon, 16% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.45 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.
13% of working residents work in Ukiah
Where Willits clocks in
13% of workers
2% 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.
What Willits’ employers do
2,400 jobs are based in Willits.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Willits, 2013 → 2023: 2,257 → 2,400. 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 Willits’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Willits
About 23% 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.
Willits is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Willits is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns, #41 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Willits 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 1,899 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 85% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 53% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 67% 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). 13.9% of Willits households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Willits’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Willits is 3,349th among 3,867 U.S. towns of 3,300 to 6,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Del Mar CA | 3,858 | $199K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 70 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 79 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,347 | Pixley CA | 3,742 | $56K | 16.2% | 6.2% | 8% | C− |
| 3,348 | Ridge Manor FL | 3,935 | $58K | 14.6% | 5.8% | <1% | C− |
| 3,349 | Willits CA | 4,760 | $63K | 9.9% | 10.3% | 40% | C− |
| 3,350 | Adams Township IN | 5,235 | $61K | 18.9% | 5.4% | 18% | C− |
| 3,351 | Galen NY | 4,346 | $64K | 17.5% | 6.7% | 10% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,867 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Willits, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Next door to Willits
The biggest share goes to Brooktrails (1%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Willits workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willits | – | C− | A+ | 14 min | $63,447 |
| Brooktrails | 1% | B− | D | 29 min | $116,056 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Willits’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 Willits: questions
What is the median household income in Willits?
$63,447 (±$7,818) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Willits?
9.9%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Willits?
14 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Willits work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ukiah (13%, 20 mi), Santa Rosa (2%, 75 mi), Fort Bragg (2%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Willits walkable?
Willits is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.3 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Willits without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. 53% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Willits, from the people who make the trip.
More of Willits
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.