Photo: Port of San Diego · CC BY 2.0About half of Chula Vista’s working residents commute to San Diego
About one in five stay in Chula Vista for work; outside it, San Diego is the main destination (47%, 15 miles). The two grades for Chula Vista are B+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. Measured by household income, Chula Vista is ahead of 82% 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 Chula Vista, in brief
A longer commute than the towns next door
Chula Vista averages 29 minutes each way, more than any bordering town (24 to 25 minutes). Next door ↓
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.
Chula Vista’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Chula Vista is better than 65% of U.S. towns, #351 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Chula Vista’s grade up (ahead of 89% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (8.0%, 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, Chula Vista could be anywhere from B to B+.
Who commutes out of Chula Vista, and who commutes in
On a workday 99,451 residents head out to work, 20,809 work right here, and 44,638 people come in from elsewhere.
About 221,000 people are in Chula Vista on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
0.54 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.
The towns that employ Chula Vista’s residents
Where Chula Vista clocks in
47% of workers
3% 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.
Jobs in Chula Vista: what the 65,447 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chula Vista, 2013 → 2023: 55,183 → 65,447. 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 Chula Vista’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 29 minutes from Chula Vista
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chula Vista workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 113,509 commuters (the 13% 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.
How many miles Chula Vista commutes
About 19% 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.
Chula Vista 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, Chula Vista is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns, #257 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.5% 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 129,820 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 71% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 26% 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). 4.5% of Chula Vista households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Chula Vista’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
27th of 92: where Chula Vista ranks among U.S. towns of 193,000 to 372,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Oyster Bay NY | 301,115 | $160K | 3.9% | 4.6% | 19% | A |
| 3 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Fremont CA | 226,442 | $182K | 5.2% | 4.7% | 17% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Santa Clarita CA | 228,430 | $123K | 7.4% | 5.6% | 21% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Irvine CA | 318,764 | $137K | 10.8% | 5.9% | 29% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Enterprise NV | 240,464 | $98K | 8.7% | 6.1% | 11% | B+ |
| 26 | Fontana CA | 221,223 | $103K | 9.9% | 6.5% | 9% | B+ |
| 27 | Chula Vista CA | 275,533 | $108K | 8.7% | 8.0% | 17% | B+ |
| 28 | Durham NC | 305,561 | $82K | 11.7% | 3.8% | 42% | B+ |
| 29 | Anaheim CA | 341,008 | $95K | 12.4% | 5.8% | 17% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Cleveland OH | 363,608 | $41K | 30.6% | 10.8% | 42% | C− |
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 Chula Vista, the top three, the last and three more from California.
50% of Chula Vista works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Chula Vista workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chula Vista | – | B+ | A | 29 min | $108,032 |
| Bonita | under 1% | A− | B | 24 min | $118,674 |
| National City | 3% | C+ | A+ | 25 min | $66,841 |
| San Diego | 47% | B+ | A | 24 min | $108,077 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to San Diego. Darker towns draw more of Chula Vista’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 Chula Vista: questions
What is the median household income in Chula Vista?
$108,032 (±$2,863) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chula Vista?
8.7%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chula Vista?
29 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chula Vista work?
17% work in town.
Is Chula Vista walkable?
Chula Vista is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.7 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chula Vista without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 26% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chula Vista, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chula Vista
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.