Work & commute · Lakewood

Work & commute in Lakewood, CA

Most working residents leave Lakewood for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Los Angeles (15%), Long Beach (14%) and Anaheim (4%). Half commute less than 12 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

1,363 of 36,466 working residents

Typical commute

12 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

28 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

13%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 35,103 Lakewood residents head out of town to work, 1,363 work right here, and 15,745 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lakewood.

35,103live here, work elsewhere

1,363live and work here

15,745work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Lakewood goes to work

Los Angeles20.4 mi away

15%5,556

Long Beach5.3 mi away

14%5,083

Anaheim20.9 mi away

4%1,371

Lakewood (in town)right here

4%1,363

Cerritos3.3 mi away

3%1,034

Irvine23.3 mi away

2%811

Carson7.3 mi away

2%741

Torrance13.5 mi away

2%629

Santa Ana15.7 mi away

2%609

Huntington Beach12.3 mi away

2%594

Everywhere elseother towns and states

51%18,675

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

How far

How far Lakewood commutes

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

44%

40%

44%Under 10 mi

40%10–24 mi

8%25–50 mi

8%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Lakewood is a commuter town

0.47jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Lakewood are

17,108 jobs are based in Lakewood. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lakewood’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Lakewood

17,108 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)7%

Trade, transport & utilities31%

Services (health, schools, offices…)62%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month38%

Over $3,333 a month45%

Jobs Lakewood residents hold

36,466 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)65%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month68%

+4%

Jobs based in Lakewood, 2013 → 2023: 16,448 → 17,108. 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.