Work & commute · Rio del Mar

Work & commute in Rio del Mar, CA

Most working residents leave Rio del Mar for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Santa Cruz (10%), Watsonville (9%) and San Jose (7%). Half commute less than 12 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

184 of 3,096 working residents

Typical commute

12 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

30 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

30%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 2,912 Rio del Mar residents head out of town to work, 184 work right here, and 1,079 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Rio del Mar.

2,912live here, work elsewhere

184live and work here

1,079work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Rio del Mar goes to work

Santa Cruz8.4 mi away

10%320

Watsonville6.6 mi away

9%268

San Jose23.7 mi away

7%204

Rio del Mar (in town)right here

6%184

Live Oak5.6 mi away

5%165

Aptos2.3 mi away

5%153

San Francisco82.4 mi away

4%132

Capitola4 mi away

3%95

Scotts Valley9.7 mi away

2%75

Soquel4.5 mi away

2%64

Everywhere elseother towns and states

46%1,436

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

How far

How far Rio del Mar commutes

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

49%

12%

18%

22%

49%Under 10 mi

12%10–24 mi

18%25–50 mi

22%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Rio del Mar is a commuter town

0.41jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Rio del Mar are

1,263 jobs are based in Rio del Mar. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Rio del Mar’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Rio del Mar

1,263 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)4%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)79%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month57%

Jobs Rio del Mar residents hold

3,096 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities15%

Services (health, schools, offices…)72%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month17%

Over $3,333 a month70%

+15%

Jobs based in Rio del Mar, 2013 → 2023: 1,096 → 1,263. 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.