Photo: Don Ramey Logan · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Newport Beach are higher than in 96% of U.S. towns
6.6% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 12.0% for California as a whole. The two grades for Newport Beach are A for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 17.5 in Los Angeles.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Newport Beach in brief
Newport Beach is where the jobs are
Newport Beach has 81,095 jobs, 2.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 132,000 people are in town, 61% more than the 82,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
A lot of Newport Beach works from home
29% of Newport Beach workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
Commutes from Newport Beach are quick
The average trip to work takes 23 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
Most jobs in Newport Beach pay over $40,000 a year
73% of the jobs based in Newport Beach pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. 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.
Jobs & income in Newport Beach: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Newport Beach is better than 89% of U.S. towns, #76 of 847 in California. Household income holds Newport Beach’s grade up ($156,867, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.3%, 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, Newport Beach could be anywhere from A− to A+.
The workday shuffle in and out of Newport Beach
On a workday 25,586 residents head out to work, 5,320 work right here, and 75,775 people come in from elsewhere.
About 132,000 people are in Newport Beach on a workday afternoon, 61% more than live here.
2.6 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.
From Newport Beach, about 23 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Newport Beach workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 29,959 commuters (the 29% 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.
Services make up most of the work in Newport Beach
81,095 jobs are based in Newport Beach.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Newport Beach, 2013 → 2023: 66,555 → 81,095. 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 Newport Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The towns that send workers to Newport Beach
Where Newport Beach clocks in
15% of workers
7% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Newport Beach
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Newport Beach is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Newport Beach is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns, #338 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.2% 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 42,123 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 76% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 25% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 74% 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). 4.4% of Newport Beach households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Newport Beach’s commuters take a bus or train.
Newport Beach is 67th of 563 U.S. towns of 57,000 to 111,000 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Cupertino CA | 58,333 | $235K | 4.1% | 4.0% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | South San Francisco CA | 64,941 | $137K | 6.7% | 2.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Eastvale CA | 70,594 | $160K | 4.8% | 4.7% | 5% | A |
| 66 | Rochester Hills MI | 77,539 | $121K | 5.2% | 4.1% | 8% | A |
| 67 | Newport Beach CA | 81,977 | $157K | 6.6% | 4.3% | 17% | A |
| 68 | Yorba Linda CA | 65,632 | $158K | 5.8% | 4.7% | 5% | A |
| 69 | Hoover AL | 93,550 | $109K | 5.1% | 3.5% | 18% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 563 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Newport Beach, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Newport Beach and its neighbors: 22% work next door
The biggest share goes to Irvine (15%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Newport Beach workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newport Beach | – | A | A− | 23 min | $156,867 |
| Costa Mesa | 7% | A− | A | 22 min | $111,505 |
| Irvine | 15% | B+ | A | 25 min | $136,719 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Newport Beach’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 Newport Beach: questions
What is the median household income in Newport Beach?
$156,867 (±$10,941) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Newport Beach?
6.6%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Newport Beach?
23 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 29% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Newport Beach work?
17% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Irvine (15%, 6 mi), Costa Mesa (7%, 4 mi), Los Angeles (7%, 41 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Newport Beach walkable?
Newport Beach is more walkable than 85% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 13.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Newport Beach without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 25% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Newport Beach, from the people who make the trip.
More of Newport Beach
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.