Photo: Marianita2407 · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Calexico (19.4%) is among the highest in the country
Working from home is the commute for 7% of workers, against 17% across California. For jobs and income Calexico is better than 9% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (B+). Household incomes here are lower than in 88% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Calexico, in brief
Most jobs in Calexico go to people who live here
Of the 9,755 jobs based in Calexico, 53% are held by Calexico residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Calexico and El Centro trade workers both ways
El Centro is the top workplace for Calexico residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in Calexico come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Many jobs in Calexico pay little
31% of the jobs based in Calexico pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
Fewer than half of Calexico workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Calexico’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 22% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Inside Calexico’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Calexico’s grade up (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Calexico stays D.
The workday shuffle in and out of Calexico
On a workday 11,759 residents head out to work, 5,132 work right here, and 4,623 people come in from elsewhere.
About 31,000 people are in Calexico on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.58 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
16% of working residents work in El Centro
Where Calexico clocks in
16% of workers
5% 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.
Calexico works in goods: 30% of its jobs
9,755 jobs are based in Calexico.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Calexico, 2013 → 2023: 7,787 → 9,755. 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 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Calexico’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Calexico: about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Calexico workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,277 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The commute from Calexico, by distance
About 29% 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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most trips from Calexico start in a car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 12,181 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). 8.5% of Calexico households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Calexico’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Calexico compares with U.S. towns of 27,000 to 52,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Newark CA | 47,895 | $169K | 4.3% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,106 | Clovis NM | 37,127 | $55K | 21.7% | 8.8% | 51% | D |
| 1,107 | Brawley CA | 28,008 | $59K | 21.3% | 15.5% | 26% | D |
| 1,108 | Calexico CA | 38,623 | $50K | 19.7% | 19.4% | 30% | D |
| 1,109 | Jamestown NY | 27,663 | $44K | 25.3% | 9.0% | 34% | D |
| 1,110 | LaGrange GA | 34,730 | $44K | 22.9% | 9.0% | 38% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,113 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Calexico, the top three, the last and three more from California.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, 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 Calexico: questions
What is the median household income in Calexico?
$49,783 (±$6,233) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Calexico?
19.7%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Calexico?
26 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Calexico work?
30% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are El Centro (16%, 8 mi), Brawley (5%, 20 mi), San Diego (4%, 95 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Calexico walkable?
Calexico is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Calexico without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Calexico, from the people who make the trip.
More of Calexico
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, 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.