Work & commute · Salinas

Work & commute in Salinas, CA

About one in 3 of Salinas’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Monterey (5%), San Jose (4%) and Soledad (2%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

39%

22,024 of 56,672 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

27 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 34,648 Salinas residents head out of town to work, 22,024 work right here, and 30,032 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Salinas.

34,648live here, work elsewhere

22,024live and work here

30,032work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Salinas goes to work

Salinas (in town)right here

39%22,024

Monterey15.1 mi away

5%3,088

San Jose43 mi away

4%2,204

Soledad24.9 mi away

2%1,119

Watsonville17.9 mi away

2%1,037

San Francisco105.1 mi away

2%1,019

Seaside11.2 mi away

1%780

Prunedale8.6 mi away

1%743

Marina8.6 mi away

1%721

Gilroy22 mi away

1%587

Everywhere elseother towns and states

41%23,350

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

How far

How far Salinas commutes

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

49%

19%

24%

49%Under 10 mi

19%10–24 mi

8%25–50 mi

24%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Salinas is balanced between jobs and homes

0.92jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.92 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Salinas are

52,056 jobs are based in Salinas. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Salinas’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Salinas

52,056 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)26%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month28%

Over $3,333 a month60%

Jobs Salinas residents hold

56,672 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)26%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month27%

Over $3,333 a month62%

+21%

Jobs based in Salinas, 2013 → 2023: 42,864 → 52,056. 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.