Photo: Don Ramey Logan, Diosthenese, User:CactusWriter · CC BY 3.0Household incomes in Laguna Beach top those of 94% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles. 6.1% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 12.0% for California as a whole. For jobs and income Laguna Beach is better than 83% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (A).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Laguna Beach stands out on work
Home offices are common in Laguna Beach
36% of Laguna Beach workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
Laguna Beach trades workers with the towns around it
Laguna Beach has about as many jobs (8,914) as working residents (8,126), but they are mostly different people: 6,914 residents leave for work each day while 7,702 people come in. Only 14% of the jobs in Laguna Beach are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Laguna Beach’s workforce skews older
36% of Laguna Beach’s working residents are 55 or older. 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.
Jobs & income in Laguna Beach: the grade in detail
Household income holds Laguna Beach’s grade up ($143,843, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.0%, 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, Laguna Beach could be anywhere from B+ to A.
Each way, about 29 minutes from Laguna Beach
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Laguna Beach workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 7,117 commuters (the 36% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Laguna Beach
On a workday 6,914 residents head out to work, 1,212 work right here, and 7,702 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 (1.10 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.
Laguna Beach is a services town
8,914 jobs are based in Laguna Beach.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Laguna Beach, 2013 → 2023: 7,865 → 8,914. 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 Laguna Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.
13% of working residents work in Irvine
Where Laguna Beach clocks in
13% of workers
6% 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.
How many miles Laguna Beach commutes
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.
Laguna Beach is easy on foot, hard by bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 11,185 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 75% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 39% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 79% 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). 3.5% of Laguna Beach households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Laguna Beach’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 16,000 to 30,000, Laguna Beach ranks 490th of 1,658 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Orinda CA | 19,507 | $250K | 2.2% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 146 | Lafayette CA | 25,313 | $228K | 2.9% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 178 | La Cañada Flintridge CA | 19,480 | $242K | 3.5% | 5.0% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 488 | Manchester MO | 18,069 | $98K | 6.4% | 4.1% | 3% | A− |
| 489 | Bryant AR | 22,815 | $83K | 5.6% | 2.6% | 10% | A− |
| 490 | Laguna Beach CA | 22,391 | $144K | 6.1% | 5.0% | 15% | A− |
| 491 | Bridgewater Town MA | 29,309 | $113K | 4.8% | 4.7% | 7% | A− |
| 492 | Washington Township IL | 24,235 | $90K | 6.4% | 2.3% | 13% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,658 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Laguna Beach, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Around Laguna Beach: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Laguna Beach workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laguna Beach | – | A− | A | 29 min | $143,843 |
| Laguna Niguel | under 2% | A− | A− | 26 min | $140,452 |
| Dana Point | under 2% | A | A | 30 min | $141,520 |
| Aliso Viejo | under 2% | A | B+ | 25 min | $142,439 |
| Laguna Woods | under 2% | C+ | A | 20 min | $59,269 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Laguna 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 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 Laguna Beach: questions
What is the median household income in Laguna Beach?
$143,843 (±$14,177) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Laguna Beach?
6.1%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Laguna Beach?
29 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 36% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Laguna Beach work?
15% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Irvine (13%, 9 mi), Los Angeles (7%, 50 mi), Newport Beach (6%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Laguna Beach walkable?
Laguna Beach is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.7 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Laguna Beach without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 39% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Laguna Beach, from the people who make the trip.
More of Laguna Beach
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.