Photo: The original uploader was Tillman at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 2.0Household incomes in Malibu top those of 98% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles. Poverty touches 12.6% of residents, where California as a whole has 12.0%. Jobs and income earn Malibu B; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Malibu, in brief
A lot of Malibu works from home
40% of Malibu workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
Malibu and Los Angeles trade workers both ways
Los Angeles is the top workplace for Malibu residents (34%) and also where the most people who work in Malibu come from (36% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Malibu’s workforce skews older
38% of Malibu’s working residents are 55 or older. 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.
What’s behind Malibu’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Malibu is better than 58% of U.S. towns, #428 of 847 in California. Household income holds Malibu’s grade up ($194,421, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (6.7%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Malibu could be anywhere from B− to A−.
About 32 minutes each way, longer than most of California
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Malibu workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,556 commuters (the 40% 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.
34% of working residents work in Los Angeles
Where Malibu 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.
66% of the jobs in Malibu pay over $3,333 a month
5,307 jobs are based in Malibu.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Malibu, 2013 → 2023: 4,606 → 5,307. 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 Malibu’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Malibu fills up on a workday
On a workday 3,308 residents head out to work, 347 work right here, and 4,960 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Malibu on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.45 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Malibu
About 17% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Malibu
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Malibu is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #349 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Malibu near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,264 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 49% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 29% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 70% 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). 2.2% of Malibu households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Malibu’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 2,790 U.S. towns of 6,700 to 12,900, Malibu comes 1,451st 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 16 | Piedmont CA | 10,642 | $250K | 4.3% | 1.5% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Sierra Madre CA | 10,620 | $144K | 4.6% | 2.6% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,449 | Raisin Township MI | 8,165 | $96K | 8.2% | 3.8% | 6% | B |
| 1,450 | Pembroke NH | 7,579 | $90K | 15.0% | 2.9% | 8% | B |
| 1,451 | Malibu CA | 9,574 | $194K | 12.6% | 6.7% | 9% | B |
| 1,452 | Franklin NH | 8,839 | $72K | 7.0% | 2.8% | 13% | B |
| 1,453 | Kaufman TX | 10,717 | $63K | 10.6% | 3.4% | 14% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,790 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Malibu, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Work next door: 34% of Malibu’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Malibu workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malibu | – | B | A− | 32 min | $194,421 |
| Pepperdine University | under 2% | A− | B | 13 min | $199,432 |
| Topanga | under 2% | A− | B | 29 min | $157,045 |
| Los Angeles | 34% | B− | A+ | 31 min | $81,939 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Los Angeles. Darker towns draw more of Malibu’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 Malibu: questions
What is the median household income in Malibu?
$194,421 (±$35,683) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Malibu?
12.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Malibu?
32 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 40% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Malibu work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Los Angeles (34%, 22 mi), Burbank (7%, 30 mi), Santa Monica (5%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Malibu walkable?
Malibu is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.8 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Malibu without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 29% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Malibu, from the people who make the trip.
More of Malibu
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.