Photo: Mrbooger · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Lake Elsinore commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Household incomes here are higher than in 78% of U.S. towns. Employers in Lake Elsinore report 15,054 jobs for 29,622 working residents. For jobs and income Lake Elsinore is better than 59% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Lake Elsinore and work: the main findings
Lake Elsinore workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 43 minutes each way, against 29 across California. Over a year that’s about 330 hours of commuting, 107 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
No single place dominates Lake Elsinore’s commute
The biggest draw, Temecula, gets only 5% of working residents, and 57% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Lake Elsinore residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Lake Elsinore has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Lake Elsinore went from 10,880 in 2013 to 15,054 in 2023, +38%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Why Lake Elsinore gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Household income holds Lake Elsinore’s grade up ($101,888, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (6.3%, 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, Lake Elsinore could be anywhere from B− to B+.
The trip to work from Lake Elsinore: about 43 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 13.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Elsinore workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 28,759 commuters (the 13% 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.
5% of working residents work in Temecula
Where Lake Elsinore clocks in
5% 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 Lake Elsinore
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Elsinore, 2013 → 2023: 10,880 → 15,054. 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 Lake Elsinore’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Lake Elsinore quiets down on a workday
On a workday 26,902 residents head out to work, 2,720 work right here, and 12,334 people come in from elsewhere.
About 60,000 people are in Lake Elsinore on a workday afternoon, 19% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Lake Elsinore
About 20% 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.
In Lake Elsinore, the car does most of the work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 33,231 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 46% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 6% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 61% 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). 3.0% of Lake Elsinore households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Lake Elsinore’s commuters take a bus or train.
339th of 577: where Lake Elsinore ranks among U.S. towns of 53,000 to 101,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Cupertino CA | 58,333 | $235K | 4.1% | 4.0% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | South San Francisco CA | 64,941 | $137K | 6.7% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 337 | West Sacramento CA | 56,216 | $93K | 12.8% | 6.0% | 14% | B |
| 338 | Vista CA | 98,274 | $95K | 10.5% | 6.6% | 13% | B |
| 339 | Lake Elsinore CA | 75,067 | $102K | 9.4% | 6.3% | 9% | B |
| 340 | Haverhill MA | 68,361 | $88K | 11.3% | 5.7% | 17% | B |
| 341 | Smyrna TN | 63,321 | $82K | 12.5% | 5.0% | 14% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 577 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Lake Elsinore, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Next door to Lake Elsinore
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lake Elsinore workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Elsinore | – | B | B+ | 43 min | $101,888 |
| Lakeland Village | under 3% | B− | B− | 40 min | $85,748 |
| Warm Springs | under 3% | C+ | C+ | 36 min | $70,341 |
| Canyon Lake | under 3% | B+ | B− | 48 min | $126,926 |
| Meadowbrook | under 3% | B− | B | 42 min | $56,212 |
| Wildomar | under 3% | B− | B | 38 min | $103,506 |
| Temescal Valley | under 3% | A | C | 43 min | $122,051 |
| Menifee | under 3% | B | B | 42 min | $93,454 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lake Elsinore’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 Lake Elsinore: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Elsinore?
$101,888 (±$6,516) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Elsinore?
9.4%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Elsinore?
43 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Elsinore work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Temecula (5%, 18 mi), Riverside (5%, 18 mi), Los Angeles (5%, 66 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lake Elsinore walkable?
Lake Elsinore is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Elsinore without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 6% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Elsinore, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Elsinore
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.