Photo: Bob Doran from Arcata, USA · CC BY 2.0Households in Willow Creek earn less than those in 91% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Willow Creek; the top destination outside it is Hoopa (10%, 11 miles). 15.8% of residents are in poverty (California 12.0%). Jobs and income earn Willow Creek D−; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Willow Creek and work: the main findings
Commutes from Willow Creek are quick
The average trip to work takes 10 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 146 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
40% 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 ↓
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 282 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Willow Creek’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Willow Creek is better than 4% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Willow Creek’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (6.4%) is left out: Willow Creek’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Willow Creek could be anywhere from D− to C−.
A commute of about 10 minutes in Willow Creek
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Willow Creek workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 348 commuters (the 24% 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 commute from Willow Creek, by distance
About 40% 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.
Who commutes out of Willow Creek, and who commutes in
On a workday 219 residents head out to work, 63 work right here, and 306 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 (1.31 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.
Where Willow Creek goes to work
Where Willow Creek clocks in
7% of workers
7% 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 Willow Creek: what the 369 are
369 jobs are based in Willow Creek.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Willow Creek, 2013 → 2023: 307 → 369. 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 Willow Creek’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most of Willow Creek commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Willow Creek is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 31.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 4.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 456 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 0.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 48% 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). 3.4% of Willow Creek households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Willow Creek’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Willow Creek sits among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Castle Hill CA | 1,026 | $250K | 0.2% | 0.0% | 0% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| 15 | Acalanes Ridge CA | 1,006 | $181K | 1.5% | 7.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,487 | Sheldon Township IL | 1,177 | $48K | 17.8% | 16.7% | 3% | D− |
| 3,488 | Jackson Township MO | 1,221 | $55K | 20.9% | 7.5% | 4% | D− |
| 3,489 | Willow Creek CA | 1,076 | $47K | 15.8% | 6.4% | 22% | D− |
| 3,490 | Dover AR | 1,385 | $32K | 30.5% | 2.6% | 5% | D− |
| 3,491 | Kinsley KS | 1,312 | $49K | 19.3% | 7.3% | 37% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | 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 Willow Creek, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Willow Creek and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Willow Creek workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willow Creek | – | D− | B | 10 min | $47,137 |
| Salyer | under 2% | — | — | 21 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Salyer: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Willow Creek’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 Willow Creek: questions
What is the median household income in Willow Creek?
$47,137 (±$12,657) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Willow Creek?
15.8%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Willow Creek?
10 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Willow Creek work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hoopa (10%, 11 mi), Arcata (7%, 23 mi), Eureka (7%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Willow Creek walkable?
Willow Creek is more walkable than 61% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 4.6 out of 20, and 31% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Willow Creek without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Willow Creek, from the people who make the trip.
More of Willow Creek
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.