Photo: Don Ramey Logan · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Dana Point have higher incomes than those in 94% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 7.2% of residents (California 12.0%). Dana Point grades A for jobs and income and A for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.9 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 17.5 in Los Angeles.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Dana Point, in a few figures
Inside Dana Point’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dana Point is better than 86% of U.S. towns, #112 of 847 in California. Household income is its strongest input ($141,520, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (4.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dana Point could be anywhere from B+ to A.
The trip to work from Dana Point: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dana Point workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,956 commuters (the 32% 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 a workday changes Dana Point
On a workday 11,540 residents head out to work, 931 work right here, and 9,007 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.80 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
11% of working residents work in Irvine
Where Dana Point clocks in
11% of workers
6% 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.
The kinds of work in Dana Point
9,938 jobs are based in Dana Point.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dana Point, 2013 → 2023: 8,787 → 9,938. 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 Dana Point’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Dana Point
About 20% 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.
Dana Point 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, Dana Point is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns, #316 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.7% 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 17,511 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 75% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 21% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 67% 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). 2.0% of Dana Point households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Dana Point’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Dana Point is 322nd of 1,283 U.S. towns of 23,000 to 44,000
| # | 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 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 118 | Lafayette CA | 25,313 | $228K | 2.9% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 320 | Homewood AL | 28,118 | $94K | 8.9% | 2.3% | 15% | A |
| 321 | North Andover MA | 32,161 | $141K | 9.4% | 3.3% | 11% | A |
| 322 | Dana Point CA | 32,232 | $142K | 7.2% | 4.0% | 7% | A |
| 323 | Crown Point IN | 35,616 | $102K | 6.8% | 2.8% | 19% | A |
| 324 | Jackson Township OH | 43,403 | $94K | 5.6% | 3.1% | 20% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,283 | 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 Dana Point, the top three, the last and three more from California.
The towns next door employ 15% of Dana Point
The biggest share goes to San Clemente (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Dana Point workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dana Point | – | A | A | 30 min | $141,520 |
| Laguna Niguel | 3% | A− | A− | 26 min | $140,452 |
| San Clemente | 6% | A− | B+ | 29 min | $140,062 |
| San Juan Capistrano | 6% | A | A | 27 min | $129,457 |
| Laguna Beach | under 3% | A− | A | 29 min | $143,843 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Dana Point’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 Dana Point: questions
What is the median household income in Dana Point?
$141,520 (±$12,055) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dana Point?
7.2%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dana Point?
30 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 32% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dana Point work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Irvine (11%, 15 mi), Los Angeles (6%, 56 mi), San Clemente (6%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dana Point walkable?
Dana Point is more walkable than 86% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.8 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dana Point without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 21% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dana Point, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dana Point
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.