Walnut Street School · Photo: Epolk · CC0Unemployment in Woodland (5.8%) is higher than in 72% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Woodland is better than 62% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (A). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 5.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 7.8 in Sacramento. About one in four work in Woodland; the top destination outside it is Sacramento (12%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Income, poverty and work: Woodland’s grade explained
Job access by car holds Woodland’s grade up (ahead of 75% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Woodland could be anywhere from B− to B+.
A workday in Woodland: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 20,348 residents head out to work, 6,842 work right here, and 14,773 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 (0.79 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Woodland’s working residents head each day
Where Woodland clocks in
12% of workers
6% 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.
Inside Woodland’s 21,615 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Woodland, 2014 → 2024: 18,264 → 21,615. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Woodland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Woodland: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Woodland workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 25,429 commuters (the 13% 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 Woodland goes to work
About 18% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Good to walk, short on transit: Woodland
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across California.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 29,167 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 99% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 28% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 84% 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). 7.0% of Woodland households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Woodland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 704 U.S. towns of 44,000 to 84,000, Woodland comes 390th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Cupertino CA | 58,333 | $235K | 4.1% | 4.0% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | South San Francisco CA | 64,941 | $137K | 6.7% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 45 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 388 | Concord NH | 44,597 | $85K | 8.9% | 4.1% | 36% | B |
| 389 | Center Township IN | 47,315 | $80K | 11.0% | 3.6% | 27% | B |
| 390 | Woodland CA | 62,513 | $90K | 8.2% | 5.8% | 25% | B |
| 391 | Marietta GA | 63,574 | $73K | 12.8% | 3.8% | 13% | B |
| 392 | Portland ME | 69,911 | $80K | 11.2% | 4.2% | 49% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 704 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 27% | 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 Woodland, 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 2024, 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 Woodland: questions
What is the median household income in Woodland?
$90,180 (±$7,540) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Woodland?
8.2%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Woodland?
25 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Woodland work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sacramento (12%, 17 mi), Davis (6%, 8 mi), Brooks (4%, 22 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Woodland walkable?
Woodland is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 14.6 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Woodland without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 28% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Woodland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Woodland
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.