Work & commute · El Cerrito

Work & commute in El Cerrito, CA

Most working residents leave El Cerrito for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are San Francisco (21%), Berkeley (12%) and Oakland (11%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

523 of 12,074 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

33 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

32%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 11,551 El Cerrito residents head out of town to work, 523 work right here, and 5,015 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in El Cerrito.

11,551live here, work elsewhere

523live and work here

5,015work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where El Cerrito goes to work

San Francisco42 mi away

21%2,560

Berkeley3.7 mi away

12%1,403

Oakland11.2 mi away

11%1,311

Richmond3.9 mi away

5%617

El Cerrito (in town)right here

4%523

Emeryville5.6 mi away

2%260

San Rafael11.9 mi away

2%216

Albany2.2 mi away

2%202

San Jose50.7 mi away

2%195

Walnut Creek14.3 mi away

1%177

Everywhere elseother towns and states

38%4,610

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

How far

How far El Cerrito commutes

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

43%

35%

11%

43%Under 10 mi

35%10–24 mi

11%25–50 mi

11%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

El Cerrito is a commuter town

0.46jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.46 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in El Cerrito are

5,538 jobs are based in El Cerrito. Here is what they are, next to the jobs El Cerrito’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in El Cerrito

5,538 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)4%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)71%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month35%

Over $3,333 a month48%

Jobs El Cerrito residents hold

12,074 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)9%

Trade, transport & utilities15%

Services (health, schools, offices…)75%

$1,250 a month or less9%

$1,251–$3,333 a month15%

Over $3,333 a month76%

+21%

Jobs based in El Cerrito, 2013 → 2023: 4,585 → 5,538. 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.