Photo: Stickpen · Public domainFor more than half of its working residents, La Mesa is a commute to San Diego
La Mesa grades B for jobs and income and A for walkability. Only 8% work in La Mesa itself; outside it, San Diego draws the most (53%, 7 miles). Measured by household income, La Mesa is ahead of 73% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets La Mesa apart on work
La Mesa trades workers with the towns around it
La Mesa has about as many jobs (23,796) as working residents (27,139), but they are mostly different people: 25,000 residents leave for work each day while 21,657 people come in. Only 9% of the jobs in La Mesa are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from La Mesa are quick
The average trip to work takes 24 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 38 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. 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 figures behind La Mesa’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, La Mesa is better than 62% of U.S. towns, #385 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds La Mesa’s grade up (ahead of 94% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, La Mesa could be anywhere from B− to B+.
Who leaves La Mesa for work, and who comes in
On a workday 25,000 residents head out to work, 2,139 work right here, and 21,657 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 (0.88 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.
From La Mesa, about 24 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of La Mesa workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 25,381 commuters (the 18% 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.
Where the trip to work from La Mesa ends
Where La Mesa clocks in
53% of workers
5% of workers
3% 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 the 23,796 jobs in La Mesa are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in La Mesa, 2013 → 2023: 23,420 → 23,796. 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 La Mesa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of La Mesa commutes less than 10 miles
About 16% 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.
La Mesa is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, La Mesa is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns, #223 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.7% 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 30,891 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 91% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 22% 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). 6.1% of La Mesa households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of La Mesa’s commuters take a bus or train.
La Mesa is 411th of 737 U.S. towns of 42,000 to 81,000 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 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Cupertino CA | 58,333 | $235K | 4.1% | 4.0% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 42 | South San Francisco CA | 64,941 | $137K | 6.7% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 50 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 409 | Wheaton MD | 52,926 | $111K | 13.1% | 6.9% | 4% | B |
| 410 | Lockport Township IL | 60,618 | $85K | 9.4% | 6.2% | 7% | B |
| 411 | La Mesa CA | 59,914 | $95K | 11.5% | 6.2% | 8% | B |
| 412 | Concord NH | 44,597 | $85K | 8.9% | 4.1% | 36% | B |
| 413 | Owasso OK | 43,117 | $79K | 7.3% | 5.4% | 14% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 737 | 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 La Mesa, the top three, the last and three more from California.
58% of La Mesa works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | La Mesa workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Mesa | – | B | A | 24 min | $95,028 |
| Casa de Oro-Mount Helix | under 1% | A | B+ | 26 min | $125,107 |
| San Diego | 53% | B+ | A | 24 min | $108,077 |
| El Cajon | 5% | C | A | 25 min | $67,511 |
| Lemon Grove | under 1% | B+ | A | 29 min | $88,009 |
| Spring Valley | under 1% | B | A− | 26 min | $109,110 |
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 La Mesa’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 La Mesa: questions
What is the median household income in La Mesa?
$95,028 (±$7,968) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in La Mesa?
11.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from La Mesa?
24 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in La Mesa work?
8% work in town.
Is La Mesa walkable?
La Mesa is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around La Mesa without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 22% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from La Mesa, from the people who make the trip.
More of La Mesa
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.