TownTapestry
Sign inJoin
La MesaGood night
Work & commute · La Mesa

Work & commute in La Mesa, CA

Most working residents leave La Mesa for work: only 8% work in town. The top destinations are San Diego (53%), El Cajon (5%) and Chula Vista (3%). Half commute less than 10 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times
Work in town
8%
2,139 of 27,139 working residents
Typical commute
10 mi
Half commute less than this, straight-line
Average commute time
24 min
One way, from the Census survey
Work from home
18%
of workers, from the Census survey
Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 25,000 La Mesa residents head out of town to work, 2,139 work right here, and 21,657 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in La Mesa.

25,000live here, work elsewhere
2,139live and work here
21,657work here, live elsewhere
Leave for workStayCome in
The map

Where La Mesa goes to work

Lemon GroveNational CityLa MesaEl CajonSanteeEscondidoCarlsbadPowaySan DiegoLos AngelesChula VistaLa PresaSpring ValleyCasa de Oro-Mount HelixSan DiegoEl CajonChula VistaSanteePowayLos AngelesNational CityEscondidoCarlsbadLa Mesa
1
San Diego7.3 mi away
53%14,286
2
La Mesa (in town)right here
8%2,139
3
El Cajon3.9 mi away
5%1,293
4
Chula Vista9.9 mi away
3%787
5
Santee6 mi away
2%527
6
Poway15 mi away
2%485
7
Los Angeles117.9 mi away
2%480
8
National City8.8 mi away
1%327
9
Escondido25.2 mi away
1%221
10
Carlsbad29.2 mi away
1%212
Everywhere elseother towns and states
24%6,382

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

How far

How far La Mesa commutes

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

53%Under 10 mi
29%10–24 mi
3%25–50 mi
16%Over 50 mi
Job hub or commuter town?

La Mesa is balanced between jobs and homes

0.88jobs per working resident
Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.88 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in La Mesa are

23,796 jobs are based in La Mesa. Here is what they are, next to the jobs La Mesa’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in La Mesa

23,796 jobs
Goods (factories, building, farms)5%
Trade, transport & utilities18%
Services (health, schools, offices…)77%
$1,250 a month or less12%
$1,251–$3,333 a month30%
Over $3,333 a month58%

Jobs La Mesa residents hold

27,139 working residents
Goods (factories, building, farms)13%
Trade, transport & utilities15%
Services (health, schools, offices…)73%
$1,250 a month or less10%
$1,251–$3,333 a month23%
Over $3,333 a month67%
+2%

Jobs based in La Mesa, 2013 → 2023: 23,420 → 23,796. 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.

We left the porch light on

Where to, neighbor?

You’re in La Mesa, CAView boundary

Nearby

All towns & citiesExplore the map

Local begins with a boundary.

See what belongs to your selected town.

Loading boundary…

La Mesa is your selected town. The feed includes posts assigned to this town, not a distance radius or ZIP code.

Neighborhoods narrow the feed further, while townwide announcements, events, and issues remain visible.

Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/18 · 2025-01-01
Open detailed map