Work & commute · Live Oak

Work & commute in Live Oak, CA

Most working residents leave Live Oak for work: only 11% work in town. The top destinations are Santa Cruz (21%), San Jose (6%) and Capitola (5%). Half commute less than 6 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

11%

701 of 6,656 working residents

Typical commute

6 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

22 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 5,955 Live Oak residents head out of town to work, 701 work right here, and 6,898 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Live Oak.

5,955live here, work elsewhere

701live and work here

6,898work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Live Oak goes to work

Santa Cruz3.1 mi away

21%1,417

Live Oak (in town)right here

11%701

San Jose23.3 mi away

6%381

Capitola1.6 mi away

5%304

Scotts Valley5.1 mi away

4%290

Watsonville12.3 mi away

4%257

Soquel2 mi away

3%232

San Francisco77.2 mi away

3%231

Pleasure Point1.9 mi away

2%112

Aptos4.8 mi away

2%109

Everywhere elseother towns and states

39%2,622

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

How far

How far Live Oak commutes

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

52%

14%

15%

19%

52%Under 10 mi

14%10–24 mi

15%25–50 mi

19%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Live Oak is balanced between jobs and homes

1.14jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.14 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Live Oak are

7,599 jobs are based in Live Oak. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Live Oak’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Live Oak

7,599 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities8%

Services (health, schools, offices…)82%

$1,250 a month or less8%

$1,251–$3,333 a month20%

Over $3,333 a month72%

Jobs Live Oak residents hold

6,656 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)66%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month21%

Over $3,333 a month67%

+5%

Jobs based in Live Oak, 2013 → 2023: 7,227 → 7,599. 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.