Photo: Namiwoo · CC BY-SA 3.0At 9.6%, unemployment in El Cajon is higher than in 93% of U.S. towns
Working residents average 25 minutes each way (California 29, U.S. 26). The two grades for El Cajon are C for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in seven work in El Cajon; the top destination outside it is San Diego (38%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from El Cajon
Much of El Cajon works one town over
46% of working residents work in a town that borders El Cajon: San Diego (38%), La Mesa (4%) and Santee (3%). Next door ↓
El Cajon trades workers with the towns around it
El Cajon has about as many jobs (40,004) as working residents (44,561), but they are mostly different people: 37,744 residents leave for work each day while 33,187 people come in. Only 17% of the jobs in El Cajon are held by people who 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.
What’s behind El Cajon’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, El Cajon is better than 32% of U.S. towns, #637 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds El Cajon’s grade up (ahead of 92% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, El Cajon could be anywhere from C to C+.
How many people are in El Cajon by day
On a workday 37,744 residents head out to work, 6,817 work right here, and 33,187 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 (0.90 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.
Where El Cajon’s working residents head each day
Where El Cajon clocks in
38% of workers
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.
What work there is in El Cajon: 40,004 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in El Cajon, 2013 → 2023: 34,045 → 40,004. 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 El Cajon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
El Cajon’s commute takes about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of El Cajon workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 38,374 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.
The distance from El Cajon to work
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.
In El Cajon, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, El Cajon is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #179 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.6% 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 43,310 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 90% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 36% 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). 8.1% of El Cajon households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of El Cajon’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Among U.S. towns of 71,000 to 137,000, El Cajon ranks 358th of 424 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| 3 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Berkeley CA | 121,911 | $108K | 17.3% | 5.6% | 21% | A |
| 24 | Mountain View CA | 85,438 | $190K | 6.0% | 3.7% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 356 | St. Joseph MO | 71,001 | $58K | 17.7% | 4.3% | 68% | C |
| 357 | Hammond IN | 75,712 | $56K | 19.1% | 6.5% | 18% | C |
| 358 | El Cajon CA | 101,755 | $68K | 20.5% | 9.6% | 15% | C |
| 359 | Evansville IN | 116,176 | $53K | 18.4% | 5.1% | 60% | C |
| 360 | Racine WI | 77,908 | $58K | 18.2% | 6.1% | 23% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 424 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | 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 El Cajon, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Work next door: 46% of El Cajon’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | El Cajon workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Cajon | – | C | A | 25 min | $67,511 |
| Casa de Oro-Mount Helix | under 1% | A | B+ | 26 min | $125,107 |
| Granite Hills | under 1% | B | C | 30 min | $155,820 |
| Bostonia | under 1% | B− | A | 25 min | $78,878 |
| La Mesa | 4% | B | A | 24 min | $95,028 |
| Santee | 3% | A− | A− | 27 min | $113,394 |
| Rancho San Diego | 1% | B+ | B+ | 28 min | $118,682 |
| Winter Gardens | under 1% | B+ | A− | 26 min | $97,973 |
| San Diego | 38% | 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 El Cajon’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 El Cajon: questions
What is the median household income in El Cajon?
$67,511 (±$4,257) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in El Cajon?
20.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from El Cajon?
25 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in El Cajon work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Diego (38%, 10 mi), La Mesa (4%, 4 mi), Santee (3%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is El Cajon walkable?
El Cajon is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.3 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around El Cajon without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 36% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from El Cajon, from the people who make the trip.
More of El Cajon
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.