Photo: USEPA Environmental-Protection-Agency · Public domainUnemployment in Lancaster (7.5%) is higher than in 86% of U.S. towns
10% of workers work from home (California 17%). For jobs and income Lancaster is better than 35% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (B+). About one in four stay in Lancaster for work; outside it, Los Angeles is the main destination (18%, 48 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lancaster, in a few figures
Lancaster’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lancaster is Los Angeles, 49 miles away as the crow flies. 18% of working residents (10,557) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
The quickest commute around
Lancaster’s 31-minute average trip is shorter than in any town next door, where it runs from 35 to 40 minutes. Next door ↓
Lancaster has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Lancaster went from 31,506 in 2013 to 42,957 in 2023, +36%. 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.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Lancaster
Job access by car holds Lancaster’s grade up (ahead of 60% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lancaster could be anywhere from C to C+.
How far it is to work from Lancaster
About 28% 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.
What work there is in Lancaster: 42,957 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lancaster, 2013 → 2023: 31,506 → 42,957. 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 Lancaster’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Lancaster for work, and who comes in
On a workday 44,113 residents head out to work, 14,996 work right here, and 27,961 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.
0.73 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Lancaster: the destinations
Where Lancaster clocks in
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.
Lancaster’s commute takes about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lancaster workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 59,250 commuters (the 10% 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.
Most of Lancaster commutes by car
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 65,694 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 12% 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 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 45% 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). 7.0% of Lancaster households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Lancaster’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Lancaster places 144th of 184 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 119,000 to 230,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pearland TX | 129,930 | $119K | 4.1% | 3.3% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Berkeley CA | 121,911 | $108K | 17.3% | 5.6% | 21% | A |
| 3 | Olathe KS | 150,025 | $114K | 5.6% | 2.7% | 26% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 8 | Fremont CA | 226,442 | $182K | 5.2% | 4.7% | 17% | A |
| 9 | Sunnyvale CA | 156,577 | $186K | 5.8% | 4.5% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 142 | Worcester MA | 213,862 | $70K | 19.6% | 6.5% | 37% | C+ |
| 143 | Topeka KS | 125,795 | $57K | 15.7% | 4.9% | 66% | C+ |
| 144 | Lancaster CA | 170,084 | $82K | 15.6% | 7.5% | 25% | C |
| 145 | Pasadena TX | 148,539 | $65K | 18.9% | 8.6% | 17% | C |
| 146 | Providence RI | 195,310 | $68K | 20.7% | 8.2% | 36% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 184 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Lancaster, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Lancaster and its neighbors: 12% work next door
The biggest share goes to Palmdale (11%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lancaster workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lancaster | – | C | B+ | 31 min | $81,511 |
| Quartz Hill | 1% | B− | C | 35 min | $105,443 |
| Palmdale | 11% | C | B | 40 min | $81,770 |
| Leona Valley | under 1% | B | D | 38 min | $131,667 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lancaster’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 Lancaster: questions
What is the median household income in Lancaster?
$81,511 (±$3,094) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lancaster?
15.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lancaster?
31 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lancaster work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Los Angeles (18%, 48 mi), Palmdale (11%, 8 mi), Santa Clarita (3%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lancaster walkable?
Lancaster is more walkable than 70% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lancaster without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lancaster, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lancaster
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.