Photo: Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0For more than half of its working residents, Santa Clara is a commute to Eugene
A typical one-way commute from Santa Clara lasts 21 minutes (Oregon 23, U.S. 26). Jobs and income earn Santa Clara B+; getting around on foot earns it A. Household incomes here are higher than in 66% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Santa Clara
More than half of Santa Clara works in Eugene
2,407 working residents, 53%, have their main job in Eugene, 4.1 miles away across the town line. That’s 53 times as many as work in Santa Clara itself. The commute map ↓
Most Santa Clara residents work close to home
73% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about three in four. How far ↓
Santa Clara is a place people come home to
There are 557 jobs based in Santa Clara, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Santa Clara has about 6,600 people in it, 38% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Santa Clara has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Santa Clara went from 344 in 2014 to 557 in 2024, +62%. The jobs ↓
Santa Clara makes and builds things
40% of the jobs based in Santa Clara are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Santa Clara residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 17%. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Santa Clara gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Santa Clara is better than 67% of U.S. towns, #41 of 142 in Oregon. Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 69% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (4.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Santa Clara could be anywhere from B− to A.
Out of Santa Clara to work: where people go
Where Santa Clara clocks in
53% of workers
12% 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.
How many miles Santa Clara commutes
About 20% 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.
How a workday changes Santa Clara
On a workday 4,490 residents head out to work, 46 work right here, and 511 people come in from elsewhere.
About 6,600 people are in Santa Clara on a workday afternoon, 38% fewer than live here.
0.12 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Factories, building and farms: 40% of the jobs in Santa Clara
557 jobs are based in Santa Clara.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Santa Clara, 2014 → 2024: 344 → 557. 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 Santa Clara’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Santa Clara spends getting to work: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Santa Clara workers work from home, vs 19% across Oregon. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,079 commuters (the 20% who work from home are left out). Across Oregon: 80% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Santa Clara
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Santa Clara is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #70 of 142 in Oregon. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 8.4% across Oregon.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,115 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 10% 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). 2.3% of Santa Clara households have no vehicle (Oregon 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Santa Clara’s commuters take a bus or train.
Santa Clara next to U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000: 1,245th of 2,878 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 168 | Bull Mountain OR | 9,865 | $165K | 4.7% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 207 | Oak Hills OR | 11,131 | $127K | 3.4% | 3.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 409 | Damascus OR | 11,437 | $123K | 3.2% | 3.6% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,243 | Xenia Township OH | 7,320 | $95K | 4.8% | 6.8% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,244 | Collinsville OK | 9,956 | $91K | 9.1% | 4.4% | 9% | B+ |
| 1,245 | Santa Clara OR | 10,551 | $88K | 8.9% | 4.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,246 | Park City KS | 9,458 | $74K | 12.5% | 2.5% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,247 | Spring Garden Township PA | 13,617 | $103K | 9.1% | 5.8% | 6% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Santa Clara, the top three, the last and three more from Oregon.
Next door is work for 53% of Santa Clara
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Santa Clara workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Clara | – | B+ | A | 21 min | $88,344 |
| Eugene | 53% | C | A+ | 18 min | $66,562 |
| River Road | under 1% | C+ | A | 19 min | $81,589 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Eugene. Darker towns draw more of Santa Clara’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 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 Santa Clara: questions
What is the median household income in Santa Clara?
$88,344 (±$9,642) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $83,011 across Oregon and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Santa Clara?
8.9%, against 11.9% across Oregon and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Santa Clara?
21 minutes each way on average, against 23 across Oregon and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Santa Clara work?
1% work in town.
Is Santa Clara walkable?
Santa Clara is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.3 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Santa Clara without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 10% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Santa Clara, from the people who make the trip.
More of Santa Clara
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.