Photo: user:Epolk · CC BY-SA 3.0Los Alamitos has higher unemployment (9.2%) than 92% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Los Alamitos B; getting around on foot earns it A. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 4.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles. Only 6% stay in Los Alamitos for work; outside it, Long Beach is the main destination (11%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Los Alamitos apart
Los Alamitos is where the jobs are
Los Alamitos has 12,906 jobs, 2.3 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 19,000 people are in town, 62% more than the 12,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Los Alamitos draws workers from far and wide
The 12,906 jobs in Los Alamitos are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 38%; the other 59% 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Why Los Alamitos gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Los Alamitos is better than 58% of U.S. towns, #421 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Los Alamitos’ grade up (ahead of 84% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. 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, Los Alamitos could be anywhere from B− to A−.
Who commutes out of Los Alamitos, and who commutes in
On a workday 5,264 residents head out to work, 356 work right here, and 12,550 people come in from elsewhere.
About 19,000 people are in Los Alamitos on a workday afternoon, 62% more than live here.
2.3 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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 in to Los Alamitos: where workers come from
Where Los Alamitos clocks in
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.
What Los Alamitos’ employers do
12,906 jobs are based in Los Alamitos.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Los Alamitos, 2013 → 2023: 12,040 → 12,906. 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 Los Alamitos’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Los Alamitos: about 31 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Los Alamitos workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,925 commuters (the 15% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Los Alamitos
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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Los Alamitos
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.8% 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 5,797 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 97% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 49% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 82% 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). 3.4% of Los Alamitos households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Los Alamitos’ commuters take a bus or train.
Los Alamitos is 1,424th of 2,695 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 18 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 142 | Alamo CA | 14,488 | $250K | 2.1% | 3.6% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,422 | Fraser MI | 14,496 | $64K | 10.4% | 4.3% | 5% | B |
| 1,423 | Walker Mill MD | 10,931 | $88K | 10.3% | 8.2% | <1% | B |
| 1,424 | Los Alamitos CA | 11,702 | $97K | 8.9% | 9.2% | 6% | B |
| 1,425 | Brewer ME | 9,636 | $67K | 12.5% | 1.4% | 17% | B |
| 1,426 | Leoni Township MI | 13,764 | $77K | 10.4% | 3.8% | 10% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Los Alamitos, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Next door is work for 17% of Los Alamitos
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Los Alamitos workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Alamitos | – | B | A | 31 min | $97,155 |
| Cypress | 4% | A− | A− | 29 min | $130,215 |
| Rossmoor | under 3% | A | A− | 28 min | $211,597 |
| Seal Beach | under 3% | B+ | A | 29 min | $85,964 |
| Long Beach | 11% | B | A | 30 min | $87,430 |
| Garden Grove | 2% | B | A− | 29 min | $92,174 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Long Beach. Darker towns draw more of Los Alamitos’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 Los Alamitos: questions
What is the median household income in Los Alamitos?
$97,155 (±$10,484) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Los Alamitos?
8.9%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Los Alamitos?
31 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Los Alamitos work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Long Beach (11%, 6 mi), Los Angeles (10%, 25 mi), Anaheim (5%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Los Alamitos walkable?
Los Alamitos is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 15.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Los Alamitos without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 49% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Los Alamitos, from the people who make the trip.
More of Los Alamitos
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.