Work & commute · Huntington Beach

Work & commute in Huntington Beach, CA

Most working residents leave Huntington Beach for work: only 14% work in town. The top destinations are Irvine (9%), Los Angeles (7%) and Newport Beach (5%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

14%

11,871 of 84,402 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

28 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

22%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 72,531 Huntington Beach residents head out of town to work, 11,871 work right here, and 53,944 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Huntington Beach.

72,531live here, work elsewhere

11,871live and work here

53,944work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Huntington Beach goes to work

Huntington Beach (in town)right here

14%11,871

Irvine13.4 mi away

9%7,783

Los Angeles32.2 mi away

7%6,167

Newport Beach9.4 mi away

5%4,482

Santa Ana7.4 mi away

5%4,250

Costa Mesa5.7 mi away

5%4,103

Long Beach11 mi away

4%3,550

Anaheim17.8 mi away

4%3,302

Orange10.2 mi away

3%2,469

Fountain Valley3.2 mi away

3%2,464

Everywhere elseother towns and states

40%33,961

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

How far

How far Huntington Beach commutes

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

46%

29%

15%

10%

46%Under 10 mi

29%10–24 mi

15%25–50 mi

10%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Huntington Beach is balanced between jobs and homes

0.78jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.78 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Huntington Beach are

65,815 jobs are based in Huntington Beach. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Huntington Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Huntington Beach

65,815 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)21%

Trade, transport & utilities22%

Services (health, schools, offices…)57%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month28%

Over $3,333 a month59%

Jobs Huntington Beach residents hold

84,402 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)15%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)67%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month21%

Over $3,333 a month68%

+1%

Jobs based in Huntington Beach, 2013 → 2023: 65,091 → 65,815. 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.