Work & commute · Menlo Park

Work & commute in Menlo Park, CA

Most working residents leave Menlo Park for work: only 12% work in town. The top destinations are Palo Alto (11%), San Francisco (9%) and Stanford (7%). Half commute less than 9 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

12%

1,748 of 14,610 working residents

Typical commute

9 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

24 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

32%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 12,862 Menlo Park residents head out of town to work, 1,748 work right here, and 54,750 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Menlo Park.

12,862live here, work elsewhere

1,748live and work here

54,750work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Menlo Park goes to work

Menlo Park (in town)right here

12%1,748

Palo Alto5.8 mi away

11%1,617

San Francisco51.3 mi away

9%1,264

Stanford3.8 mi away

7%987

San Jose22.3 mi away

6%861

Mountain View6.7 mi away

5%759

Redwood City4.4 mi away

5%725

Sunnyvale9.3 mi away

4%586

Santa Clara12.7 mi away

3%477

San Mateo10.5 mi away

3%414

Everywhere elseother towns and states

35%5,172

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

How far

How far Menlo Park commutes

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

52%

27%

12%

10%

52%Under 10 mi

27%10–24 mi

12%25–50 mi

10%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Menlo Park is a job hub

3.87jobs per working resident

A job hub

3.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Menlo Park are

56,498 jobs are based in Menlo Park. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Menlo Park’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Menlo Park

56,498 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)6%

Trade, transport & utilities4%

Services (health, schools, offices…)90%

$1,250 a month or less2%

$1,251–$3,333 a month4%

Over $3,333 a month94%

Jobs Menlo Park residents hold

14,610 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)11%

Trade, transport & utilities10%

Services (health, schools, offices…)79%

$1,250 a month or less7%

$1,251–$3,333 a month11%

Over $3,333 a month83%

+91%

Jobs based in Menlo Park, 2013 → 2023: 29,594 → 56,498. 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.