Work & commute · Lake Isabella

Work & commute in Lake Isabella, CA

Most working residents leave Lake Isabella for work: only 18% work in town. The top destinations are Bakersfield (13%), Kernville (7%) and Los Angeles (6%). Half commute less than 37 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

18%

175 of 967 working residents

Typical commute

37 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

19 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

11%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 792 Lake Isabella residents head out of town to work, 175 work right here, and 688 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lake Isabella.

792live here, work elsewhere

175live and work here

688work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Lake Isabella goes to work

Lake Isabella (in town)right here

18%175

Bakersfield36.4 mi away

13%126

Kernville9.3 mi away

7%66

Los Angeles111.2 mi away

6%60

Mountain Mesa4.6 mi away

6%54

Weldon10 mi away

2%22

Ridgecrest46.1 mi away

1%14

Bodfish3.7 mi away

1%14

Lancaster66.9 mi away

1%13

Santa Clarita83.7 mi away

1%10

Everywhere elseother towns and states

43%413

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

How far

How far Lake Isabella commutes

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

30%

23%

40%

30%Under 10 mi

7%10–24 mi

23%25–50 mi

40%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Lake Isabella is balanced between jobs and homes

0.89jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.89 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Lake Isabella are

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

Jobs based in Lake Isabella

863 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)61%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month45%

Over $3,333 a month43%

Jobs Lake Isabella residents hold

967 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)64%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month40%

Over $3,333 a month46%

−41%

Jobs based in Lake Isabella, 2013 → 2023: 1,456 → 863. 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.