Photo: Mark James Miller · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Yosemite Valley are lower than in 98% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Yosemite Valley are D for jobs and income and B for walkability. Poverty touches 21.0% of residents (California 12.0%). About one in five work in Yosemite Valley itself; outside it, Fresno draws the most (7%, 67 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Yosemite Valley: the figures worth knowing
A big share show a job far from home
73% 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 ↓
Yosemite Valley has far more jobs than workers
Yosemite Valley has 1,063 jobs, 4.0 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,800 people are in town, 40% more than the 2,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Nearly all the work in Yosemite Valley is services
99% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 1% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
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 264 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Yosemite Valley’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Yosemite Valley is better than 6% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Yosemite Valley’s grade up (4.8%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Yosemite Valley could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Yosemite Valley’s commute, mile by mile
About 73% 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.
How a workday changes Yosemite Valley
On a workday 217 residents head out to work, 47 work right here, and 1,016 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,800 people are in Yosemite Valley on a workday afternoon, 40% more than live here.
4.0 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Services make up most of the work in Yosemite Valley
1,063 jobs are based in Yosemite Valley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Yosemite Valley, 2013 → 2023: 915 → 1,063. 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 Yosemite Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Yosemite Valley’s workforce comes from
Where Yosemite Valley clocks in
7% of workers
3% 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.
Getting to work from Yosemite Valley takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Yosemite Valley workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,469 commuters (the 10% 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.
In Yosemite Valley, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Yosemite Valley is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 42.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 4.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,628 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 4.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 83% 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). 28.7% of Yosemite Valley households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Yosemite Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Yosemite Valley and other 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,014 | Peebles OH | 1,777 | $63K | 24.2% | 14.4% | 8% | D |
| 5,015 | Emporium PA | 1,781 | $43K | 14.6% | 8.2% | 37% | D |
| 5,016 | Yosemite Valley CA | 1,991 | $34K | 21.0% | 4.8% | 18% | D |
| 5,017 | Gurdon AR | 1,817 | $48K | 17.2% | 5.6% | 8% | D |
| 5,018 | Hinckley MN | 1,992 | $51K | 19.7% | 6.8% | 25% | 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 Yosemite Valley, 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 Yosemite Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Yosemite Valley?
$34,282 (±$30,551) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Yosemite Valley?
21.0%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Yosemite Valley?
23 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Yosemite Valley work?
18% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fresno (7%, 67 mi), San Francisco (4%, 156 mi), San Jose (3%, 126 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Yosemite Valley walkable?
Yosemite Valley is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 4.2 out of 20, and 43% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Yosemite Valley without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 29% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Yosemite Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Yosemite Valley
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.