Work & commute · Los Angeles

Work & commute in Los Angeles, CA

51% of Los Angeles’s working residents work right in town. The top destinations are Burbank (6%), Santa Monica (2%) and Glendale (2%). Half commute less than 9 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

51%

773,841 of 1,517,185 working residents

Typical commute

9 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

31 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

20%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 743,344 Los Angeles residents head out of town to work, 773,841 work right here, and 949,033 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Los Angeles.

743,344live here, work elsewhere

773,841live and work here

949,033work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Los Angeles goes to work

Los Angeles (in town)right here

51%773,841

Burbank12.7 mi away

6%84,124

Santa Monica5 mi away

2%36,177

Glendale14.6 mi away

2%28,635

Culver City1.2 mi away

2%27,533

Beverly Hills4.2 mi away

2%25,701

Pasadena18.4 mi away

1%19,172

Torrance13.4 mi away

1%17,451

Long Beach21.6 mi away

1%16,668

El Segundo7.6 mi away

1%16,383

Everywhere elseother towns and states

31%471,500

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

How far

How far Los Angeles commutes

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

56%

27%

56%Under 10 mi

27%10–24 mi

8%25–50 mi

9%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles are

1,722,874 jobs are based in Los Angeles. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Los Angeles’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Los Angeles

1,722,874 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)7%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)76%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month67%

Jobs Los Angeles residents hold

1,517,185 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)10%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)73%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month61%

+15%

Jobs based in Los Angeles, 2013 → 2023: 1,492,572 → 1,722,874. 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.