Photo: Niranjan Arminius · CC BY-SA 4.0Mission Canyon ranks among the highest-earning U.S. towns by household income
Measured by household income, Mission Canyon is among the highest-earning towns in the country. The poverty rate is 5.6% (California 12.0%). For jobs and income Mission Canyon is better than 89% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Mission Canyon stands out on work
Mission Canyon and Santa Barbara trade workers both ways
Santa Barbara is the top workplace for Mission Canyon residents (39%) and also where the most people who work in Mission Canyon come from (39% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Home offices are common in Mission Canyon
41% of Mission Canyon workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Mission Canyon are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 115 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 902 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Mission Canyon: the grade in detail
Household income is its strongest input ($208,466, U.S. $80,734); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 67% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mission Canyon could be anywhere from B to A+.
39% of working residents work in Santa Barbara
Where Mission Canyon clocks in
39% of workers
12% 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.
Mission Canyon’s commute takes about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mission Canyon workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 670 commuters (the 41% 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.
Who commutes out of Mission Canyon, and who commutes in
On a workday 882 residents head out to work, 20 work right here, and 217 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Mission Canyon on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
0.26 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 2024, primary jobs.
In Mission Canyon, services account for most jobs
237 jobs are based in Mission Canyon.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mission Canyon, 2014 → 2024: 243 → 237. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Mission Canyon’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Mission Canyon
About 25% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Getting around Mission Canyon: mostly by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 6.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,133 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 0.8% of Mission Canyon households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mission Canyon’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,552 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,200, Mission Canyon comes 416th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Harmony Grove CA | 2,585 | $227K | 4.6% | 0.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 88 | Rolling Hills CA | 1,641 | $250K | 5.5% | 5.6% | 2% | A+ |
| 89 | Ross CA | 2,304 | $250K | 4.8% | 0.7% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 414 | Gibbs Township ND | 2,856 | $156K | 1.4% | 2.9% | 1% | A |
| 415 | Franklin Township OH | 2,204 | $115K | 7.3% | 0.9% | <1% | A |
| 416 | Mission Canyon CA | 2,357 | $208K | 5.6% | 3.1% | 2% | A |
| 417 | Vamo FL | 2,936 | $88K | 2.0% | 5.0% | 3% | A |
| 418 | Swepsonville NC | 2,632 | $101K | 4.1% | 2.2% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,552 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 61% | 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 Mission Canyon, the top three, the last and three more from California.
39% of Mission Canyon works in a bordering town
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mission Canyon workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission Canyon | – | A | B | 14 min | $208,466 |
| Santa Barbara | 39% | B | A | 17 min | $106,182 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Santa Barbara. Darker towns draw more of Mission Canyon’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 2024, 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 Mission Canyon: questions
What is the median household income in Mission Canyon?
$208,466 (±$53,524) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mission Canyon?
5.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mission Canyon?
14 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 41% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mission Canyon work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Santa Barbara (39%, 4 mi), Goleta (12%, 8 mi), Eastern Goleta Valley (5%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Mission Canyon walkable?
Mission Canyon is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.6 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mission Canyon without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mission Canyon, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mission Canyon
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.