Work & commute · Highlands

Work & commute in Highlands, CA

Most working residents leave Highlands for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are San Francisco (19%), San Mateo (6%) and Palo Alto (5%). Half commute less than 17 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

27 of 1,208 working residents

Typical commute

17 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

24 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

36%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,181 Highlands residents head out of town to work, 27 work right here, and 250 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Highlands.

1,181live here, work elsewhere

27live and work here

250work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Highlands goes to work

San Francisco40.2 mi away

19%233

San Mateo3.4 mi away

6%78

Palo Alto14 mi away

5%65

San Jose33 mi away

5%58

Oakland18.5 mi away

4%54

Redwood City7.3 mi away

4%48

South San Francisco9.5 mi away

4%45

Menlo Park11.2 mi away

4%43

Cupertino21.6 mi away

3%31

Santa Clara23.3 mi away

2%29

Everywhere elseother towns and states

43%524

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

How far

How far Highlands commutes

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

25%

57%

10%

25%Under 10 mi

57%10–24 mi

10%25–50 mi

8%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Highlands is a commuter town

0.23jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Highlands are

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

Jobs based in Highlands

277 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)8%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)74%

$1,250 a month or less19%

$1,251–$3,333 a month19%

Over $3,333 a month62%

Jobs Highlands residents hold

1,208 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)11%

Trade, transport & utilities12%

Services (health, schools, offices…)77%

$1,250 a month or less8%

$1,251–$3,333 a month13%

Over $3,333 a month80%

−4%

Jobs based in Highlands, 2013 → 2023: 290 → 277. 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.