Work & commute · La Palma

Work & commute in La Palma, CA

Most working residents leave La Palma for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Los Angeles (11%), Anaheim (6%) and Long Beach (5%). Half commute less than 12 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

152 of 6,996 working residents

Typical commute

12 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

33 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

16%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 6,844 La Palma residents head out of town to work, 152 work right here, and 5,162 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in La Palma.

6,844live here, work elsewhere

152live and work here

5,162work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where La Palma goes to work

Los Angeles24.3 mi away

11%754

Anaheim16.1 mi away

6%446

Long Beach8.8 mi away

5%367

Irvine19.5 mi away

4%300

Buena Park1.9 mi away

4%286

Cerritos2.1 mi away

3%242

Santa Ana11.9 mi away

3%228

Cypress2.2 mi away

3%211

Orange11.1 mi away

3%178

Fullerton6.8 mi away

2%157

Everywhere elseother towns and states

55%3,827

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

How far

How far La Palma commutes

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

42%

41%

42%Under 10 mi

41%10–24 mi

9%25–50 mi

8%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

La Palma is balanced between jobs and homes

0.76jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.76 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in La Palma are

5,314 jobs are based in La Palma. Here is what they are, next to the jobs La Palma’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in La Palma

5,314 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)70%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month66%

Jobs La Palma residents hold

6,996 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)12%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)69%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month67%

−22%

Jobs based in La Palma, 2013 → 2023: 6,777 → 5,314. 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.