Work & commute · Sunnyvale

Work & commute in Sunnyvale, CA

Most working residents leave Sunnyvale for work: only 14% work in town. The top destinations are San Jose (14%), Mountain View (10%) and Santa Clara (8%). Half commute less than 7 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

14%

10,794 of 76,868 working residents

Typical commute

7 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

23 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

29%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 66,074 Sunnyvale residents head out of town to work, 10,794 work right here, and 92,554 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Sunnyvale.

66,074live here, work elsewhere

10,794live and work here

92,554work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Sunnyvale goes to work

San Jose13.2 mi away

14%11,040

Sunnyvale (in town)right here

14%10,794

Mountain View3.1 mi away

10%7,492

Santa Clara3.5 mi away

8%6,095

Palo Alto6.5 mi away

7%5,336

San Francisco59.9 mi away

7%5,206

Cupertino4.7 mi away

6%4,338

Menlo Park9.3 mi away

5%3,518

Fremont8.9 mi away

3%2,142

Milpitas8.1 mi away

2%1,339

Everywhere elseother towns and states

25%19,568

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

How far

How far Sunnyvale commutes

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

66%

14%

12%

66%Under 10 mi

14%10–24 mi

12%25–50 mi

8%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Sunnyvale is balanced between jobs and homes

1.34jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.34 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Sunnyvale are

103,348 jobs are based in Sunnyvale. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sunnyvale’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Sunnyvale

103,348 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities7%

Services (health, schools, offices…)79%

$1,250 a month or less4%

$1,251–$3,333 a month9%

Over $3,333 a month87%

Jobs Sunnyvale residents hold

76,868 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities11%

Services (health, schools, offices…)71%

$1,250 a month or less5%

$1,251–$3,333 a month10%

Over $3,333 a month84%

+23%

Jobs based in Sunnyvale, 2013 → 2023: 84,219 → 103,348. 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.