Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0Joshua Tree has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
Working from home is the commute for 27% of workers, next to 17% for California as a whole. There are 1,116 jobs in Joshua Tree; 2,374 of its residents have a job. For jobs and income Joshua Tree is better than 11% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Joshua Tree: the gist
A big share show a job far from home
63% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
No single place dominates Joshua Tree’s commute
The biggest draw, Yucca Valley, gets only 8% of working residents, and 60% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Joshua Tree residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Home offices are common in Joshua Tree
27% of Joshua Tree workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
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.
The four measures behind Joshua Tree’s grade
Household income holds Joshua Tree’s grade up ($66,291, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 5% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Joshua Tree could be anywhere from D− to C+.
How far Joshua Tree goes to work
About 63% 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.
8% of working residents work in Yucca Valley
Where Joshua Tree clocks in
8% 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.
The daily trip from Joshua Tree: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Joshua Tree workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,970 commuters (the 27% 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 works in Joshua Tree, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 2,206 residents head out to work, 168 work right here, and 948 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,000 people are in Joshua Tree on a workday afternoon, 20% 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.
Joshua Tree is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Joshua Tree, 2013 → 2023: 1,244 → 1,116. 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 Joshua Tree’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Joshua Tree gets around
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 6.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,697 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). 9.6% of Joshua Tree households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Joshua Tree’s commuters take a bus or train.
Joshua Tree next to U.S. towns of 4,400 to 8,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 67 | Broadmoor CA | 4,586 | $167K | 2.5% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 69 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,026 | Ayden NC | 5,263 | $42K | 22.4% | 6.7% | 5% | D |
| 3,027 | Clearfield PA | 5,753 | $55K | 20.1% | 8.3% | 17% | D |
| 3,028 | Joshua Tree CA | 6,234 | $66K | 22.6% | 5.6% | 7% | D |
| 3,029 | Holly Springs MS | 6,402 | $45K | 31.1% | 7.2% | 22% | D |
| 3,030 | California PA | 4,615 | $49K | 28.9% | 10.8% | 11% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,297 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Joshua Tree, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Joshua Tree and the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Yucca Valley (8%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Joshua Tree workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joshua Tree | – | D | B | 30 min | $66,291 |
| Yucca Valley | 8% | D | B+ | 28 min | $59,563 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Joshua Tree’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 Joshua Tree: questions
What is the median household income in Joshua Tree?
$66,291 (±$21,148) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Joshua Tree?
22.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Joshua Tree?
30 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 27% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Joshua Tree work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Yucca Valley (8%, 6 mi), Los Angeles (7%, 120 mi), Twentynine Palms (4%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Joshua Tree walkable?
Joshua Tree is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Joshua Tree without a car?
1% 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 Joshua Tree, from the people who make the trip.
More of Joshua Tree
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.