Photo: User:Wikpe44 · Public domainHouseholds in Mission Viejo have higher incomes than those in 93% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Mission Viejo A; getting around on foot earns it A−. Below the poverty line: 5.6% of residents, next to 12.0% for California as a whole. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 2.0 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 17.5 in Los Angeles.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Mission Viejo stands out on work
Where Mission Viejo’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mission Viejo is better than 85% of U.S. towns, #121 of 847 in California. Household income holds Mission Viejo’s grade up ($136,123, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mission Viejo could be anywhere from A− to A.
16% of working residents work in Irvine
Where Mission Viejo clocks in
16% of workers
4% 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.
How a workday changes Mission Viejo
On a workday 38,031 residents head out to work, 3,596 work right here, and 27,260 people come in from elsewhere.
About 80,000 people are in Mission Viejo on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
0.74 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.
Jobs in Mission Viejo: what the 30,856 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mission Viejo, 2014 → 2024: 30,700 → 30,856. 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 Viejo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How long Mission Viejo spends getting to work: about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mission Viejo workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 33,669 commuters (the 23% 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.
How far Mission Viejo’s workers travel
About 15% 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.
Mission Viejo is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mission Viejo is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns, #414 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.6% 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 43,800 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 83% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 8% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 68% 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). 2.8% of Mission Viejo households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Mission Viejo’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Mission Viejo ranks: 102nd of 502 U.S. towns of 63,000 to 122,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | South San Francisco CA | 64,941 | $137K | 6.7% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Berkeley CA | 121,911 | $108K | 17.3% | 5.6% | 21% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | Milton Township IL | 119,815 | $121K | 6.8% | 4.6% | 15% | A |
| 101 | Lakewood CA | 78,010 | $119K | 5.8% | 5.2% | 4% | A |
| 102 | Mission Viejo CA | 90,484 | $136K | 5.6% | 5.2% | 9% | A |
| 103 | Livonia MI | 92,603 | $98K | 4.7% | 4.6% | 16% | A |
| 104 | Lee's Summit MO | 107,514 | $103K | 5.7% | 3.8% | 20% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 502 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 50% | 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 Viejo, the top three, the last and three more from California.
10% of Mission Viejo works in a town next door
The biggest share goes to Lake Forest (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mission Viejo workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mission Viejo | – | A | A− | 27 min | $136,123 |
| Lake Forest | 4% | A− | A− | 26 min | $135,175 |
| Rancho Santa Margarita | 3% | A | B+ | 26 min | $152,560 |
| Laguna Niguel | under 3% | A− | A− | 26 min | $140,452 |
| Laguna Hills | 3% | A− | B+ | 27 min | $128,851 |
| San Juan Capistrano | under 3% | A | A | 27 min | $129,457 |
| Las Flores | under 3% | A+ | C | 26 min | $211,782 |
| Ladera Ranch | under 3% | A | B+ | 27 min | $184,458 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mission Viejo’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 Viejo: questions
What is the median household income in Mission Viejo?
$136,123 (±$5,839) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mission Viejo?
5.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mission Viejo?
27 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mission Viejo work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Irvine (16%, 8 mi), Los Angeles (5%, 52 mi), Lake Forest (4%, 3 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Mission Viejo walkable?
Mission Viejo is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 12.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mission Viejo without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 8% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mission Viejo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mission Viejo
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.