Work & commute · Oceanside

Work & commute in Oceanside, CA

Most working residents leave Oceanside for work: only 18% work in town. The top destinations are Carlsbad (15%), San Diego (14%) and Vista (6%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

18%

12,357 of 69,408 working residents

Typical commute

14 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

29 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 57,051 Oceanside residents head out of town to work, 12,357 work right here, and 29,971 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Oceanside.

57,051live here, work elsewhere

12,357live and work here

29,971work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Oceanside goes to work

Oceanside (in town)right here

18%12,357

Carlsbad6.8 mi away

15%10,378

San Diego29.3 mi away

14%10,052

Vista4.6 mi away

6%4,464

San Marcos10.1 mi away

4%2,908

Escondido14.9 mi away

3%2,353

Los Angeles84 mi away

3%2,063

Encinitas12.3 mi away

3%2,045

Irvine41.2 mi away

2%1,123

Temecula21 mi away

1%764

Everywhere elseother towns and states

30%20,901

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

How far

How far Oceanside commutes

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

43%

21%

17%

19%

43%Under 10 mi

21%10–24 mi

17%25–50 mi

19%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Oceanside is a commuter town

0.61jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.61 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Oceanside are

42,328 jobs are based in Oceanside. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Oceanside’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Oceanside

42,328 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)19%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)63%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month56%

Jobs Oceanside residents hold

69,408 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)65%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month25%

Over $3,333 a month65%

+20%

Jobs based in Oceanside, 2013 → 2023: 35,174 → 42,328. 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.