Photo: Toksave · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Huntington Beach earn more than those in 88% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 7.8% of residents, next to 12.0% for California as a whole. Jobs and income earn Huntington Beach B+; getting around on foot earns it A. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 4.3 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 17.5 in Los Angeles.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Huntington Beach
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Huntington Beach is better than 74% of U.S. towns, #241 of 847 in California. Household income holds Huntington Beach’s grade up ($120,919, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.4%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Huntington Beach could be anywhere from B+ to A−.
Who works in Huntington Beach, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 72,496 residents head out to work, 11,785 work right here, and 54,961 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 (0.79 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
9% of working residents work in Irvine
Where Huntington Beach clocks in
9% 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.
The kinds of work in Huntington Beach
66,746 jobs are based in Huntington Beach.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Huntington Beach, 2014 → 2024: 66,873 → 66,746. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Huntington Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 28 minutes in Huntington Beach
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Huntington Beach workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 78,699 commuters (the 22% 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.
Huntington Beach’s commute, mile by mile
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Huntington Beach is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
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 100,652 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 93% 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 4.3 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). 3.6% of Huntington Beach households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Huntington Beach’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Out of 150 U.S. towns of 134,000 to 258,000, Huntington Beach comes 32nd on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| 3 | Olathe KS | 150,025 | $114K | 5.6% | 2.7% | 25% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Fremont CA | 226,442 | $182K | 5.2% | 4.7% | 17% | A |
| 10 | Sunnyvale CA | 156,577 | $186K | 5.8% | 4.5% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Roseville CA | 167,302 | $119K | 5.9% | 5.2% | 22% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Peoria AZ | 200,881 | $96K | 8.4% | 4.0% | 8% | A− |
| 31 | Stamford CT | 139,535 | $112K | 10.1% | 4.9% | 34% | B+ |
| 32 | Huntington Beach CA | 191,451 | $121K | 7.8% | 5.4% | 14% | B+ |
| 33 | Miramar FL | 142,570 | $89K | 8.5% | 4.5% | 6% | B+ |
| 34 | Washington Township IN | 140,572 | $77K | 9.1% | 3.3% | 17% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 150 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 52% | 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 Huntington Beach, the top three, the last and three more from California.
The towns around Huntington Beach
The biggest share goes to Costa Mesa (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Huntington Beach workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huntington Beach | – | B+ | A | 28 min | $120,919 |
| Westminster | under 3% | B− | A | 27 min | $85,541 |
| Seal Beach | under 3% | B+ | A | 29 min | $85,964 |
| Fountain Valley | 3% | B+ | B+ | 26 min | $115,237 |
| Midway City | under 3% | C+ | B+ | 23 min | $66,635 |
| Costa Mesa | 5% | A− | A | 22 min | $111,505 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Huntington Beach’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 2024, 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 Huntington Beach: questions
What is the median household income in Huntington Beach?
$120,919 (±$2,965) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Huntington Beach?
7.8%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Huntington Beach?
28 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Huntington Beach work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Irvine (9%, 13 mi), Los Angeles (7%, 32 mi), Santa Ana (5%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Huntington Beach walkable?
Huntington Beach is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 14.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Huntington Beach without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 21% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Huntington Beach, from the people who make the trip.
More of Huntington Beach
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.