Work & commute · Santa Monica

Work & commute in Santa Monica, CA

Most working residents leave Santa Monica for work: only 17% work in town. The top destinations are Los Angeles (42%), Burbank (6%) and Culver City (3%). Half commute less than 10 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

17%

6,680 of 40,200 working residents

Typical commute

10 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

25 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

38%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 33,520 Santa Monica residents head out of town to work, 6,680 work right here, and 75,727 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Santa Monica.

33,520live here, work elsewhere

6,680live and work here

75,727work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Santa Monica goes to work

Los Angeles5 mi away

42%16,911

Santa Monica (in town)right here

17%6,680

Burbank15.8 mi away

6%2,331

Culver City5.8 mi away

3%1,119

Beverly Hills7.2 mi away

2%918

El Segundo8.1 mi away

2%853

San Francisco361 mi away

1%600

West Hollywood9 mi away

1%456

Irvine47.6 mi away

1%439

San Diego113.8 mi away

1%398

Everywhere elseother towns and states

24%9,495

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

How far

How far Santa Monica commutes

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

51%

33%

10%

51%Under 10 mi

33%10–24 mi

6%25–50 mi

10%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Santa Monica is a job hub

2.05jobs per working resident

A job hub

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Santa Monica are

82,407 jobs are based in Santa Monica. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Santa Monica’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Santa Monica

82,407 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)4%

Trade, transport & utilities12%

Services (health, schools, offices…)83%

$1,250 a month or less7%

$1,251–$3,333 a month17%

Over $3,333 a month75%

Jobs Santa Monica residents hold

40,200 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)6%

Trade, transport & utilities13%

Services (health, schools, offices…)81%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month16%

Over $3,333 a month72%

+9%

Jobs based in Santa Monica, 2013 → 2023: 75,540 → 82,407. 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.