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Work & commute · Thermal

Work & commute in Thermal, CA

Most working residents leave Thermal for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Indio (11%), Coachella (9%) and Palm Desert (8%). Half commute less than 19 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times
Work in town
3%
28 of 907 working residents
Typical commute
19 mi
Half commute less than this, straight-line
Average commute time
22 min
One way, from the Census survey
Work from home
3%
of workers, from the Census survey
Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 879 Thermal residents head out of town to work, 28 work right here, and 1,587 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Thermal.

879live here, work elsewhere
28live and work here
1,587work here, live elsewhere
Leave for workStayCome in
The map

Where Thermal goes to work

Cathedral CityLa QuintaIndioPalm DesertCoachellaLos AngelesRiversidePalm SpringsMeccaThermalNorth ShoreVista Santa RosaThousand PalmsSalton CityIndioCoachellaPalm DesertLa QuintaRiversideVista Santa RosaThousand PalmsPalm SpringsLos AngelesThermal
1
Indio9.5 mi away
11%101
2
Coachella4.5 mi away
9%79
3
Palm Desert15.5 mi away
8%77
4
La Quinta8.1 mi away
4%36
5
Riverside75.6 mi away
4%34
6
Vista Santa Rosa4.5 mi away
4%34
7
Thermal (in town)right here
3%28
8
Thousand Palms18.3 mi away
3%28
9
Palm Springs26.4 mi away
3%27
10
Los Angeles133.7 mi away
3%26
Everywhere elseother towns and states
48%437

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

How far

How far Thermal commutes

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

31%Under 10 mi
24%10–24 mi
5%25–50 mi
40%Over 50 mi
Job hub or commuter town?

Thermal is a job hub

1.78jobs per working resident
A job hub

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Thermal are

1,615 jobs are based in Thermal. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Thermal’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Thermal

1,615 jobs
Goods (factories, building, farms)36%
Trade, transport & utilities5%
Services (health, schools, offices…)59%
$1,250 a month or less12%
$1,251–$3,333 a month25%
Over $3,333 a month63%

Jobs Thermal residents hold

907 working residents
Goods (factories, building, farms)26%
Trade, transport & utilities16%
Services (health, schools, offices…)58%
$1,250 a month or less13%
$1,251–$3,333 a month40%
Over $3,333 a month47%
−35%

Jobs based in Thermal, 2013 → 2023: 2,472 → 1,615. 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.

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/19 · 2025-01-01
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