Photo: Seauton · CC BY-SA 4.0Descanso has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.2 for each
Measured by household income, Descanso is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns. There are 107 jobs in Descanso; 581 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Descanso is better than 80% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns (D).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Descanso in brief
Descanso is a place people come home to
There are 107 jobs based in Descanso, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Descanso has about 1,100 people in it, 30% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Descanso and San Diego trade workers both ways
San Diego is the top workplace for Descanso residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Descanso come from (11% of its jobs). 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; with 581 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Descanso
The poverty rate holds Descanso’s grade up (3.7%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 37% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (0.9%) is left out: Descanso’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Descanso could be anywhere from B to A.
Who commutes out of Descanso, and who commutes in
On a workday 567 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 93 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Descanso on a workday afternoon, 30% 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 2023, primary jobs.
28% of working residents work in San Diego
Where Descanso clocks in
28% of workers
9% 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.
Making and building: 39% of jobs based in Descanso
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Descanso, 2013 → 2023: 150 → 107. 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 Descanso’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 27 minutes each way for Descanso’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Descanso workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 682 commuters (the 11% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Descanso
About 18% 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 Descanso start in a car
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any 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 768 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). 9.5% of Descanso households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Descanso’s commuters take a bus or train.
Descanso is 648th of 5,794 U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,100 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Ladera CA | 1,297 | $236K | 1.5% | 10.7% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Baywood Park CA | 1,580 | $217K | 2.8% | 1.6% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 73 | Irwindale CA | 1,439 | $114K | 4.3% | 6.5% | 14% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 646 | North Utica IL | 1,334 | $104K | 4.7% | 5.4% | 3% | A− |
| 647 | Hughestown PA | 1,371 | $84K | 5.6% | 5.7% | 3% | A− |
| 648 | Descanso CA | 1,590 | $110K | 3.7% | 0.9% | 2% | A− |
| 649 | Ben Wheeler TX | 1,792 | $121K | 3.6% | 0.0% | 2% | A− |
| 650 | Fontana-on-Geneva Lake WI | 1,886 | $107K | 7.5% | 3.3% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,794 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Descanso, 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 Descanso: questions
What is the median household income in Descanso?
$110,132 (±$22,789) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Descanso?
3.7%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Descanso?
27 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Descanso work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Diego (28%, 29 mi), El Cajon (9%, 20 mi), Santee (4%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Descanso walkable?
Descanso is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Descanso without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Descanso, from the people who make the trip.
More of Descanso
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.