Photo: The original uploader was AllyUnion at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0Cerritos has higher household incomes than 93% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles. Below the poverty line: 5.3% of residents; California has 12.0%. The two grades for Cerritos are A for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Cerritos apart on work
Cerritos is where the jobs are
Cerritos has 37,889 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Cerritos draws workers from far and wide
The 37,889 jobs in Cerritos are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 33%; the other 63% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Cerritos’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Cerritos is Los Angeles, 22 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (3,079) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The biggest group of Cerritos’ workers comes from Los Angeles
3,289 of the people who work in Cerritos live in Los Angeles, 22 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
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.
Cerritos’ Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cerritos is better than 89% of U.S. towns, #82 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Cerritos’ grade up (among the top U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (5.1%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Cerritos could be anywhere from A− to A.
A workday in Cerritos: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 18,496 residents head out to work, 1,614 work right here, and 36,275 people come in from elsewhere.
About 64,000 people are in Cerritos on a workday afternoon, 38% more than live here.
1.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
Who travels to work in Cerritos, and from where
Where Cerritos clocks in
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.
Miles to work from Cerritos
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.
Jobs in Cerritos: what the 37,889 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cerritos, 2013 → 2023: 34,382 → 37,889. 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 Cerritos’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Cerritos: about 32 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cerritos workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 17,038 commuters (the 19% 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.
Cerritos is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cerritos is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #431 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across California.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 21,140 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 92% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 13% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 80% 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). 2.6% of Cerritos households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Cerritos’ commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 32,000 to 63,000, Cerritos ranks 180th of 988 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| 3 | Upper Arlington OH | 35,893 | $155K | 3.3% | 2.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | Cupertino CA | 58,333 | $235K | 4.1% | 4.0% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Newark CA | 47,895 | $169K | 4.3% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | Delaware Township IN | 36,770 | $102K | 5.4% | 3.3% | 11% | A |
| 179 | White River Township IN | 56,493 | $105K | 5.9% | 3.0% | 10% | A |
| 180 | Cerritos CA | 46,367 | $135K | 5.3% | 5.1% | 8% | A |
| 181 | Wentzville MO | 49,495 | $112K | 5.4% | 2.7% | 13% | A |
| 182 | Upper Merion Township PA | 36,674 | $122K | 4.5% | 4.9% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 988 | 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 Cerritos, the top three, the last and three more from California.
The towns around Cerritos
The biggest share goes to Norwalk (2%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cerritos workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cerritos | – | A | A− | 32 min | $135,439 |
| Artesia | under 2% | B | A | 26 min | $101,004 |
| Lakewood | under 2% | A | A− | 28 min | $119,177 |
| Norwalk | 2% | B+ | A | 30 min | $100,085 |
| La Palma | under 2% | A | A− | 33 min | $117,989 |
| Bellflower | under 2% | B− | A | 29 min | $78,722 |
| Santa Fe Springs | 2% | B+ | B+ | 34 min | $88,238 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Cerritos’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 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 Cerritos: questions
What is the median household income in Cerritos?
$135,439 (±$5,063) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cerritos?
5.3%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cerritos?
32 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 19% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cerritos work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Los Angeles (15%, 22 mi), Long Beach (7%, 8 mi), Anaheim (4%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cerritos walkable?
Cerritos is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 14.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cerritos without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 13% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cerritos, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cerritos
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.