Desert View Highlands has higher unemployment (10.6%) than 95% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Desert View Highlands B; getting around on foot earns it A. Hardly any stay in Desert View Highlands for work; outside it, Los Angeles is the main destination (23%, 42 miles). Below the poverty line: 0.9% of residents (California 12.0%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Desert View Highlands: the figures worth knowing
Desert View Highlands’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Desert View Highlands is Los Angeles, 42 miles away as the crow flies. 23% of working residents (213) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Desert View Highlands workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 45 minutes each way, against 29 across California. Over a year that’s about 345 hours of commuting, 123 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Desert View Highlands is a place people come home to
There are 255 jobs based in Desert View Highlands, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Desert View Highlands has about 1,900 people in it, 26% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 927 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Desert View Highlands’ grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Desert View Highlands is better than 56% of U.S. towns, #449 of 847 in California. The poverty rate holds Desert View Highlands’ grade up; unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Desert View Highlands could be anywhere from C+ to A.
How far Desert View Highlands’ workers travel
About 22% 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.
The trip to work from Desert View Highlands: about 45 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 14.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Desert View Highlands workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 855 commuters (the 15% 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.
Who leaves Desert View Highlands for work, and who comes in
On a workday 922 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 250 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Desert View Highlands on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
0.28 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.
Out of Desert View Highlands to work: where people go
Where Desert View Highlands clocks in
11% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Desert View Highlands
255 jobs are based in Desert View Highlands.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Desert View Highlands, 2013 → 2023: 182 → 255. 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 Desert View Highlands’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Desert View Highlands, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Desert View Highlands is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #228 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Desert View Highlands near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,009 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). 0.0% of Desert View Highlands households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 9% of Desert View Highlands’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Desert View Highlands is 2,018th among 5,083 U.S. towns of 1,800 to 3,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Harmony Grove CA | 2,585 | $227K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Ross CA | 2,304 | $250K | 4.8% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | Fairbanks Ranch CA | 2,703 | $250K | 5.5% | 0.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,016 | Sonora TX | 2,373 | $72K | 5.4% | 1.7% | 29% | B |
| 2,017 | Brothersvalley Township PA | 2,319 | $70K | 8.5% | 0.7% | 6% | B |
| 2,018 | Desert View Highlands CA | 2,613 | $76K | 0.9% | 10.6% | 1% | B |
| 2,019 | Central Garage VA | 1,864 | $88K | 12.2% | 3.8% | 1% | B |
| 2,020 | Stewartstown PA | 2,225 | $81K | 9.5% | 5.7% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,083 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Desert View Highlands, 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 Desert View Highlands: questions
What is the median household income in Desert View Highlands?
$76,094 (±$24,541) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Desert View Highlands?
0.9%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Desert View Highlands?
45 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Desert View Highlands work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Los Angeles (23%, 42 mi), Palmdale (16%, 3 mi), Lancaster (11%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Desert View Highlands walkable?
Desert View Highlands is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Desert View Highlands without a car?
9% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Desert View Highlands, from the people who make the trip.
More of Desert View Highlands
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.