Work & commute · Mountain View

Work & commute in Mountain View, CA

Most working residents leave Mountain View for work: only 16% work in town. The top destinations are San Jose (10%), Palo Alto (10%) and Sunnyvale (9%). Half commute less than 7 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

16%

6,820 of 41,545 working residents

Typical commute

7 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

23 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

31%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 34,725 Mountain View residents head out of town to work, 6,820 work right here, and 79,399 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Mountain View.

34,725live here, work elsewhere

6,820live and work here

79,399work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Mountain View goes to work

Mountain View (in town)right here

16%6,820

San Jose16.2 mi away

10%4,179

Palo Alto3.5 mi away

10%3,960

Sunnyvale3.1 mi away

9%3,820

San Francisco56.9 mi away

6%2,631

Menlo Park6.7 mi away

6%2,431

Santa Clara6.6 mi away

5%2,117

Cupertino5.9 mi away

4%1,599

Fremont10 mi away

3%1,191

Redwood City10.9 mi away

3%1,142

Everywhere elseother towns and states

28%11,655

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

How far

How far Mountain View commutes

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

65%

17%

10%

65%Under 10 mi

17%10–24 mi

10%25–50 mi

8%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Mountain View is a job hub

2.08jobs per working resident

A job hub

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Mountain View are

86,219 jobs are based in Mountain View. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Mountain View’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Mountain View

86,219 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)5%

Trade, transport & utilities9%

Services (health, schools, offices…)86%

$1,250 a month or less3%

$1,251–$3,333 a month7%

Over $3,333 a month90%

Jobs Mountain View residents hold

41,545 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities9%

Services (health, schools, offices…)76%

$1,250 a month or less5%

$1,251–$3,333 a month9%

Over $3,333 a month85%

+14%

Jobs based in Mountain View, 2013 → 2023: 75,766 → 86,219. 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.