Most of Desert Hills commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Desert Hills has 458 jobs, against 898 working residents. Jobs and income earn Desert Hills B−; getting around on foot earns it D−. 34% of workers work from home, where Arizona as a whole has 18%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Desert Hills: the gist
Desert Hills and Lake Havasu City trade workers both ways
Lake Havasu City is the top workplace for Desert Hills residents (41%) and also where the most people who work in Desert Hills come from (55% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
44% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
A lot of Desert Hills works from home
34% of Desert Hills workers work from home, against 18% across Arizona. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 898 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Desert Hills’ grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Desert Hills is better than 53% of U.S. towns, #47 of 140 in Arizona. The poverty rate holds Desert Hills’ grade up (3.9%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 19% of U.S. towns). It also does well on unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Desert Hills could be anywhere from C− to A−.
41% of working residents work in Lake Havasu City
Where Desert Hills clocks in
10% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Short hops and long hauls from Desert Hills
About 44% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Commuting from Desert Hills: about 23 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Desert Hills workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 697 commuters (the 34% who work from home are left out). Across Arizona: 82% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The daily commute in and out of Desert Hills
On a workday 853 residents head out to work, 45 work right here, and 413 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,500 people are in Desert Hills on a workday afternoon, 15% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
What Desert Hills’ employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Desert Hills, 2014 → 2024: 333 → 458. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Desert Hills’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Desert Hills, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Desert Hills is more walkable than 3% of U.S. towns, #137 of 140 in Arizona. Both inputs place Desert Hills near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,050 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.9% of Desert Hills households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Desert Hills’ commuters take a bus or train.
2,049th of 4,618: where Desert Hills ranks among U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 844 | Kachina Village AZ | 3,212 | $90K | 4.3% | 1.7% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 857 | St. Johns AZ | 3,336 | $132K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 23% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,220 | Clifton AZ | 3,752 | $78K | 2.5% | 0.8% | 9% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,047 | Pine Township IN | 2,447 | $75K | 11.2% | 2.9% | 4% | B− |
| 2,048 | Fulton Township MI | 2,436 | $85K | 8.6% | 3.2% | 7% | B− |
| 2,049 | Desert Hills AZ | 2,944 | $62K | 3.9% | 2.9% | 5% | B− |
| 2,050 | Ingalls IN | 2,635 | $74K | 9.6% | 5.7% | 2% | B− |
| 2,051 | Southern Shores NC | 3,110 | $131K | 0.6% | 13.2% | 8% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,618 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Desert Hills, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
Desert Hills and its neighbors: 41% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Desert Hills workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desert Hills | – | B− | D− | 23 min | $62,361 |
| Lake Havasu City | 41% | C | B− | 16 min | $70,148 |
| Crystal Beach | under 2% | — | — | 24 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Crystal Beach: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Lake Havasu City. Darker towns draw more of Desert Hills’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Desert Hills: questions
What is the median household income in Desert Hills?
$62,361 (±$15,089) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Desert Hills?
3.9%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Desert Hills?
23 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 34% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Desert Hills work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lake Havasu City (41%, 5 mi), Phoenix (10%, 147 mi), Kingman (4%, 51 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Desert Hills walkable?
Desert Hills is more walkable than 3% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.1 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Desert Hills without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Desert Hills, from the people who make the trip.
More of Desert Hills
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.