Photo: Beyond My Ken · CC BY-SA 4.0Laguna Hills’ household incomes are higher than in 91% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Laguna Hills are A− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 7.8% of residents live below the poverty line, where California as a whole has 12.0%. Only 5% stay in Laguna Hills for work; outside it, Irvine is the main destination (16%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Laguna Hills stands out on work
Laguna Hills trades workers with the towns around it
Laguna Hills has about as many jobs (15,209) as working residents (13,362), but they are mostly different people: 12,681 residents leave for work each day while 14,528 people come in. Only 4% of the jobs in Laguna Hills are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Laguna Hills works one town over
27% of working residents work in a town that borders Laguna Hills: Irvine (16%), Mission Viejo (5%) and Aliso Viejo (3%). Next door ↓
Laguna Hills draws workers from far and wide
The 15,209 jobs in Laguna Hills are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 39%; the other 57% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, 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 Hills: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Laguna Hills is better than 77% of U.S. towns, #213 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Laguna Hills’ 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 and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Laguna Hills could be anywhere from B+ to A.
Laguna Hills on a workday afternoon
On a workday 12,681 residents head out to work, 681 work right here, and 14,528 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 (1.14 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.
Where the trip to work from Laguna Hills ends
Where Laguna Hills clocks in
16% 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.
65% of the jobs in Laguna Hills pay over $3,333 a month
15,209 jobs are based in Laguna Hills.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Laguna Hills, 2014 → 2024: 16,855 → 15,209. 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 Laguna Hills’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 27 minutes to work from Laguna Hills
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Laguna Hills workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,109 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.
How far Laguna Hills’ workers travel
About 15% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Laguna Hills is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Laguna Hills is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #515 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.5% 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 15,556 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 76% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 19% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 77% 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). 3.2% of Laguna Hills households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Laguna Hills’ commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,415 U.S. towns of 21,000 to 41,000, Laguna Hills comes 546th 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 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 122 | Lafayette CA | 25,313 | $228K | 2.9% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 544 | Windsor CT | 29,879 | $105K | 6.7% | 5.5% | 14% | A− |
| 545 | Lake Villa Township IL | 40,029 | $120K | 5.5% | 6.2% | 5% | A− |
| 546 | Laguna Hills CA | 30,020 | $129K | 7.8% | 6.2% | 5% | A− |
| 547 | Greenfield WI | 37,159 | $70K | 8.6% | 2.5% | 6% | A− |
| 548 | Glenville NY | 29,701 | $98K | 4.6% | 4.7% | 10% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,415 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 16% | 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 Hills, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Next door is work for 27% of Laguna Hills
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Laguna Hills workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laguna Hills | – | A− | B+ | 27 min | $128,851 |
| Laguna Woods | under 3% | C+ | A | 20 min | $59,269 |
| Laguna Niguel | under 3% | A− | A− | 26 min | $140,452 |
| Aliso Viejo | 3% | A | B+ | 25 min | $142,439 |
| Mission Viejo | 5% | A | A− | 27 min | $136,123 |
| Irvine | 16% | B+ | A | 25 min | $136,719 |
| Lake Forest | 3% | A− | A− | 26 min | $135,175 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Irvine. Darker towns draw more of Laguna Hills’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 Laguna Hills: questions
What is the median household income in Laguna Hills?
$128,851 (±$12,193) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Laguna Hills?
7.8%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Laguna Hills?
27 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Laguna Hills work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Irvine (16%, 7 mi), Los Angeles (6%, 51 mi), Mission Viejo (5%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Laguna Hills walkable?
Laguna Hills is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 13.3 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Laguna Hills without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 19% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Laguna Hills, from the people who make the trip.
More of Laguna Hills
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.