Work & commute · Needles

Work & commute in Needles, CA

About one in 3 of Needles’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Mohave Valley (4%), Bullhead City (3%) and Laughlin (3%). Half commute less than 43 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

30%

437 of 1,462 working residents

Typical commute

43 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

19 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,025 Needles residents head out of town to work, 437 work right here, and 929 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Needles.

1,025live here, work elsewhere

437live and work here

929work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Needles goes to work

Needles (in town)right here

30%437

Mohave Valley, AZ6.9 mi away

4%53

Bullhead City, AZ22 mi away

3%49

Laughlin, NV22.8 mi away

3%40

Fort Mohave, AZ13.2 mi away

2%35

Lake Havasu City, AZ28.1 mi away

2%34

San Bernardino158.9 mi away

2%34

San Diego198.2 mi away

2%32

Los Angeles222.5 mi away

2%27

Riverside169 mi away

2%24

Everywhere elseother towns and states

48%697

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

How far

How far Needles commutes

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

37%

10%

48%

37%Under 10 mi

10%10–24 mi

6%25–50 mi

48%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Needles is balanced between jobs and homes

0.93jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.93 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Needles are

1,366 jobs are based in Needles. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Needles’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Needles

1,366 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)8%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)73%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month45%

Over $3,333 a month42%

Jobs Needles residents hold

1,462 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities21%

Services (health, schools, offices…)66%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month43%

Over $3,333 a month44%

+15%

Jobs based in Needles, 2013 → 2023: 1,189 → 1,366. 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.