Photo: JAAbboud · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Woodside are among the highest of any U.S. town
Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. Below the poverty line: 4.5% of residents, where California as a whole has 12.0%. For jobs and income Woodside is better than 97% of U.S. towns (A+); for walkability it is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (A−).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Woodside in brief
Woodside trades workers with the towns around it
Woodside has about as many jobs (1,770) as working residents (1,935), but they are mostly different people: 1,854 residents leave for work each day while 1,689 people come in. Only 5% of the jobs in Woodside are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Most jobs here, and most residents’ jobs, pay over $40,000
82% of Woodside’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data, and so do 78% of the jobs based in Woodside. The jobs ↓
Home offices are common in Woodside
31% of Woodside workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
A longer commute than the towns next door
Woodside averages 29 minutes each way, more than any bordering town (19 to 24 minutes). Next door ↓
Woodside’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Woodside is San Francisco, 26 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (192) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. 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.
How Woodside earns its Jobs & income grade
Household income is its strongest input ($250,000+, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (2.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
The Census reports Woodside’s median household income as $250,000+, the top of its scale; the grade ranks it as tied with the 111 other graded places at that ceiling.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Woodside could be anywhere from A− to A+.
Who commutes out of Woodside, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,854 residents head out to work, 81 work right here, and 1,689 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 (0.91 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.
Most jobs in Woodside are in services
1,770 jobs are based in Woodside.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Woodside, 2013 → 2023: 1,990 → 1,770. 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 Woodside’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Woodside: about 29 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Woodside workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,634 commuters (the 30% 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.
Half of Woodside commutes less than 14 miles
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.
10% of working residents work in San Francisco
Where Woodside clocks in
7% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Woodside
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 7.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,351 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). 0.7% of Woodside households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Woodside’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 3,600 to 7,000, Woodside ranks 160th of 3,696 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Del Mar CA | 3,858 | $199K | 2.7% | 1.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 85 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 158 | Middleton WI | 6,833 | $204K | 6.1% | 0.7% | 1% | A+ |
| 159 | Sherwood OH | 3,808 | $126K | 4.2% | 1.4% | <1% | A+ |
| 160 | Woodside CA | 5,181 | $250K | 4.5% | 2.5% | 4% | A+ |
| 161 | Manchester MD | 5,426 | $122K | 4.8% | 0.1% | 3% | A+ |
| 162 | Raymond WI | 4,006 | $109K | 5.0% | 1.1% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,696 | 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 Woodside, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Bordering towns draw 11% of Woodside’s workers
The biggest share goes to Menlo Park (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Woodside workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woodside | – | A+ | A− | 29 min | $250,000+ |
| Portola Valley | under 4% | A | B+ | 19 min | $250,000+ |
| Redwood City | 5% | A | A | 24 min | $157,814 |
| Atherton | under 4% | A+ | A | 23 min | $250,000+ |
| Menlo Park | 6% | A | A+ | 24 min | $210,025 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Woodside’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.
- A ceiling on income. The Census stops at $250,000+, so the true median may be higher.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Woodside: questions
What is the median household income in Woodside?
$250,000+ (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Woodside?
4.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Woodside?
29 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 30% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Woodside work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Francisco (10%, 26 mi), Palo Alto (7%, 7 mi), San Jose (6%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Woodside walkable?
Woodside is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.3 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Woodside without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Woodside, from the people who make the trip.
More of Woodside
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.