Mission de la Purisima Concepcion de Maria Santisima Site · Photo: Jsweida · CC BY-SA 3.0Lompoc has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
7,523 jobs are based in Lompoc for 16,595 working residents. For jobs and income Lompoc is better than 21% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (A). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 2.4 in Santa Maria.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lompoc, in a few figures
Lompoc’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lompoc is Santa Barbara, 47 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (1,458) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Most jobs in Lompoc go to people who live here
Of the 7,523 jobs based in Lompoc, 49% are held by Lompoc residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
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.
Why Lompoc gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Household income holds Lompoc’s grade up ($72,004, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (7.0%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lompoc could be anywhere from D to C+.
Half of Lompoc commutes less than 22 miles
About 27% 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.
Who commutes out of Lompoc, and who commutes in
On a workday 12,898 residents head out to work, 3,697 work right here, and 3,826 people come in from elsewhere.
About 34,000 people are in Lompoc on a workday afternoon, 21% 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.
9% of working residents work in Santa Barbara
Where Lompoc clocks in
9% 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.
What Lompoc’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lompoc, 2013 → 2023: 7,404 → 7,523. 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 Lompoc’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Lompoc: about 28 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lompoc workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 16,732 commuters (the 7% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Lompoc
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 18,018 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 23% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 2% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 48% 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). 7.7% of Lompoc households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Lompoc’s commuters take a bus or train.
Lompoc and other U.S. towns of 30,000 to 58,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 54 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 102 | Newark CA | 47,895 | $169K | 4.3% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 930 | Delano CA | 52,334 | $67K | 16.0% | 13.9% | 29% | C− |
| 931 | Salisbury NC | 36,879 | $54K | 26.3% | 5.8% | 25% | C− |
| 932 | Lompoc CA | 43,315 | $72K | 17.3% | 7.0% | 22% | C− |
| 933 | Altoona PA | 42,347 | $51K | 16.6% | 6.8% | 30% | C− |
| 934 | Sumter SC | 43,094 | $56K | 16.7% | 6.6% | 31% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,011 | 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 Lompoc, the top three, the last and three more from California.
How Lompoc compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lompoc workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lompoc | – | C− | A | 28 min | $72,004 |
| Mission Hills | under 2% | B+ | B+ | 28 min | $111,974 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lompoc’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 Lompoc: questions
What is the median household income in Lompoc?
$72,004 (±$6,755) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lompoc?
17.3%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lompoc?
28 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lompoc work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Santa Barbara (9%, 47 mi), Santa Maria (8%, 19 mi), Goleta (6%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lompoc walkable?
Lompoc is more walkable than 91% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.4 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lompoc without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 2% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lompoc, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lompoc
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.