Photo: Luzonensis · CC BY-SA 4.0Highland has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Employers in Highland report 5,960 jobs, against 23,294 working residents. For jobs and income Highland is better than 44% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (B+). Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers, where California as a whole has 17%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Highland apart
Highland and San Bernardino trade workers both ways
San Bernardino is the top workplace for Highland residents (19%) and also where the most people who work in Highland come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Highland is a place people come home to
There are 5,960 jobs based in Highland, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Highland has about 40,000 people in it, 30% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Highland
59% of Highland residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 39% of the jobs based in Highland pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 97% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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 Highland’s Jobs & income grade
Job access by car holds Highland’s grade up (ahead of 86% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (17.1%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Highland could be anywhere from C to B.
19% of working residents work in San Bernardino
Where Highland clocks in
19% of workers
8% of workers
5% 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.
Who leaves Highland for work, and who comes in
On a workday 22,493 residents head out to work, 801 work right here, and 5,159 people come in from elsewhere.
About 40,000 people are in Highland 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.
What Highland’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Highland, 2013 → 2023: 4,519 → 5,960. 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 Highland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 30 minutes each way for Highland’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Highland workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 22,197 commuters (the 8% 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.
Half of Highland commutes less than 14 miles
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.
For most of Highland, work means a drive
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% 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 24,118 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 80% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 11% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 82% 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). 3.9% of Highland households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Highland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 40,000 to 78,000, Highland ranks 578th of 787 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Liberty Township OH | 40,625 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 41 | Cupertino CA | 58,333 | $235K | 4.1% | 4.0% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 51 | South San Francisco CA | 64,941 | $137K | 6.7% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 58 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 576 | Fond du Lac WI | 44,541 | $62K | 12.4% | 4.4% | 44% | C+ |
| 577 | Dubuque IA | 59,148 | $66K | 12.7% | 4.5% | 61% | C+ |
| 578 | Highland CA | 57,614 | $77K | 17.1% | 6.2% | 3% | C+ |
| 579 | West Haven CT | 55,351 | $74K | 14.1% | 7.3% | 13% | C+ |
| 580 | Conway AR | 72,328 | $63K | 16.9% | 3.6% | 41% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 787 | 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 Highland, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Bordering towns draw 27% of Highland’s workers
The biggest share goes to San Bernardino (19%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Highland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highland | – | C+ | B+ | 30 min | $77,120 |
| San Bernardino | 19% | C+ | A− | 30 min | $67,415 |
| Redlands | 8% | B+ | A− | 25 min | $105,041 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Highland’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 Highland: questions
What is the median household income in Highland?
$77,120 (±$6,818) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Highland?
17.1%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Highland?
30 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Highland work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are San Bernardino (19%, 8 mi), Redlands (8%, 4 mi), Riverside (5%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Highland walkable?
Highland is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 11.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Highland without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 11% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Highland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Highland
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.