Work & commute · Santa Ana

Work & commute in Santa Ana, CA

Most working residents leave Santa Ana for work: only 18% work in town. The top destinations are Irvine (12%), Anaheim (7%) and Orange (5%). Half commute less than 7 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

18%

22,327 of 124,808 working residents

Typical commute

7 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 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 102,481 Santa Ana residents head out of town to work, 22,327 work right here, and 126,307 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Santa Ana.

102,481live here, work elsewhere

22,327live and work here

126,307work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Santa Ana goes to work

Santa Ana (in town)right here

18%22,327

Irvine7.6 mi away

12%14,563

Anaheim10.9 mi away

7%8,379

Orange3.7 mi away

5%6,268

Costa Mesa5.2 mi away

5%6,034

Los Angeles36 mi away

5%5,882

Newport Beach7.7 mi away

4%4,682

Tustin4.2 mi away

3%3,889

Garden Grove5.3 mi away

3%3,589

Huntington Beach7.4 mi away

3%3,251

Everywhere elseother towns and states

37%45,944

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

How far

How far Santa Ana commutes

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

60%

18%

12%

60%Under 10 mi

18%10–24 mi

12%25–50 mi

9%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Santa Ana is balanced between jobs and homes

1.19jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.19 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Santa Ana are

148,634 jobs are based in Santa Ana. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Santa Ana’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Santa Ana

148,634 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)16%

Trade, transport & utilities14%

Services (health, schools, offices…)71%

$1,250 a month or less9%

$1,251–$3,333 a month26%

Over $3,333 a month65%

Jobs Santa Ana residents hold

124,808 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)19%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)63%

$1,250 a month or less11%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month58%

−1%

Jobs based in Santa Ana, 2013 → 2023: 149,501 → 148,634. 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.