Work & commute · Atherton

Work & commute in Atherton, CA

Most working residents leave Atherton for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are San Francisco (11%), Palo Alto (9%) and Menlo Park (8%). Half commute less than 13 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

103 of 2,343 working residents

Typical commute

13 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

23 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

41%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 2,240 Atherton residents head out of town to work, 103 work right here, and 2,246 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Atherton.

2,240live here, work elsewhere

103live and work here

2,246work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Atherton goes to work

San Francisco49.2 mi away

11%262

Palo Alto5.2 mi away

9%220

Menlo Park3.3 mi away

8%193

San Jose24 mi away

6%147

Mountain View7.8 mi away

5%114

Redwood City4.1 mi away

5%114

Atherton (in town)right here

4%103

Sunnyvale10.8 mi away

4%88

Stanford2.7 mi away

3%71

San Mateo9.4 mi away

3%62

Everywhere elseother towns and states

41%969

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Atherton commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

44%

28%

13%

15%

44%Under 10 mi

28%10–24 mi

13%25–50 mi

15%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Atherton is balanced between jobs and homes

1.00jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.00 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Atherton are

2,349 jobs are based in Atherton. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Atherton’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Atherton

2,349 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)2%

Trade, transport & utilities2%

Services (health, schools, offices…)96%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month13%

Over $3,333 a month77%

Jobs Atherton residents hold

2,343 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities10%

Services (health, schools, offices…)80%

$1,250 a month or less8%

$1,251–$3,333 a month11%

Over $3,333 a month80%

+21%

Jobs based in Atherton, 2013 → 2023: 1,949 → 2,349. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.