Work & commute · Soquel

Work & commute in Soquel, CA

Most working residents leave Soquel for work: only 6% work in town. The top destinations are Santa Cruz (16%), San Jose (7%) and Live Oak (6%). Half commute less than 12 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

249 of 3,898 working residents

Typical commute

12 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

23 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

16%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 3,649 Soquel residents head out of town to work, 249 work right here, and 3,086 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Soquel.

3,649live here, work elsewhere

249live and work here

3,086work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Soquel goes to work

Santa Cruz5.1 mi away

16%623

San Jose21.9 mi away

7%290

Soquel (in town)right here

6%249

Live Oak2 mi away

6%227

Capitola1.5 mi away

5%199

Watsonville11 mi away

5%181

San Francisco78 mi away

4%152

Scotts Valley5.3 mi away

4%140

Aptos3.1 mi away

3%103

Palo Alto29.6 mi away

2%71

Everywhere elseother towns and states

43%1,663

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

How far

How far Soquel commutes

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

47%

17%

16%

20%

47%Under 10 mi

17%10–24 mi

16%25–50 mi

20%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Soquel is balanced between jobs and homes

0.86jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.86 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Soquel are

3,335 jobs are based in Soquel. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Soquel’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Soquel

3,335 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)28%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)47%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month28%

Over $3,333 a month59%

Jobs Soquel residents hold

3,898 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)16%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)67%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month21%

Over $3,333 a month67%

+4%

Jobs based in Soquel, 2013 → 2023: 3,219 → 3,335. 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.