Work & commute · San Carlos

Work & commute in San Carlos, CA

Most working residents leave San Carlos for work: only 8% work in town. The top destinations are San Francisco (12%), Redwood City (7%) and Palo Alto (7%). Half commute less than 12 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

1,117 of 14,071 working residents

Typical commute

12 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

35%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 12,954 San Carlos residents head out of town to work, 1,117 work right here, and 15,491 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in San Carlos.

12,954live here, work elsewhere

1,117live and work here

15,491work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where San Carlos goes to work

San Francisco44.7 mi away

12%1,705

San Carlos (in town)right here

8%1,117

Redwood City3.2 mi away

7%1,026

Palo Alto9.8 mi away

7%963

San Mateo4.8 mi away

6%805

Menlo Park6.7 mi away

6%780

Mountain View12.4 mi away

5%722

San Jose28.6 mi away

4%612

South San Francisco12.3 mi away

4%504

Sunnyvale15.4 mi away

3%421

Everywhere elseother towns and states

38%5,416

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

How far

How far San Carlos commutes

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

44%

43%

44%Under 10 mi

43%10–24 mi

5%25–50 mi

9%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

San Carlos is balanced between jobs and homes

1.18jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.18 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in San Carlos are

16,608 jobs are based in San Carlos. Here is what they are, next to the jobs San Carlos’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in San Carlos

16,608 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)19%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)66%

$1,250 a month or less8%

$1,251–$3,333 a month16%

Over $3,333 a month76%

Jobs San Carlos residents hold

14,071 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities12%

Services (health, schools, offices…)76%

$1,250 a month or less7%

$1,251–$3,333 a month10%

Over $3,333 a month83%

+29%

Jobs based in San Carlos, 2013 → 2023: 12,910 → 16,608. 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.