Work & commute · Palm Springs

Work & commute in Palm Springs, CA

About one in 3 of Palm Springs’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Palm Desert (6%), Rancho Mirage (6%) and Cathedral City (4%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

30%

4,338 of 14,464 working residents

Typical commute

14 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

22 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

26%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 10,126 Palm Springs residents head out of town to work, 4,338 work right here, and 21,076 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Palm Springs.

10,126live here, work elsewhere

4,338live and work here

21,076work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Palm Springs goes to work

Palm Springs (in town)right here

30%4,338

Palm Desert11 mi away

6%920

Rancho Mirage6.9 mi away

6%863

Cathedral City4.8 mi away

4%624

Los Angeles108.4 mi away

4%538

San Diego75.2 mi away

3%443

Indio18.1 mi away

2%275

Desert Hot Springs10.6 mi away

2%226

La Quinta19.2 mi away

2%225

Riverside49.9 mi away

2%224

Everywhere elseother towns and states

40%5,788

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

How far

How far Palm Springs commutes

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

44%

12%

35%

44%Under 10 mi

12%10–24 mi

9%25–50 mi

35%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Palm Springs is a job hub

1.76jobs per working resident

A job hub

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Palm Springs are

25,414 jobs are based in Palm Springs. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Palm Springs’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Palm Springs

25,414 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)5%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)78%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month59%

Jobs Palm Springs residents hold

14,464 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)9%

Trade, transport & utilities19%

Services (health, schools, offices…)72%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month56%

+11%

Jobs based in Palm Springs, 2013 → 2023: 22,962 → 25,414. 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.