Photo: Traveler100 · CC BY-SA 3.0Seal Beach’s household incomes are higher than in 63% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 2.9 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 17.5 in Los Angeles. Poverty touches 6.7% of residents; California has 12.0%. The two grades for Seal Beach are B+ for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Seal Beach in brief
Seal Beach’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Seal Beach is Los Angeles, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (1,052) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Home offices are common in Seal Beach
26% of Seal Beach workers work from home, against 17% across California. Time on the road ↓
Seal Beach makes and builds things
38% of the jobs based in Seal Beach are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Seal Beach residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 14%. The jobs ↓
Seal Beach has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Seal Beach went from 8,749 in 2013 to 11,962 in 2023, +37%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Inside Seal Beach’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Seal Beach is better than 71% of U.S. towns, #279 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Seal Beach’s grade up (ahead of 80% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (4.7%, U.S. 5.2%). 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, Seal Beach could be anywhere from B to A−.
Where in the region Seal Beach works
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.
Each way, about 29 minutes from Seal Beach
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Seal Beach workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,821 commuters (the 26% 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.
Goods jobs make up 38% of work in Seal Beach
11,962 jobs are based in Seal Beach.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Seal Beach, 2013 → 2023: 8,749 → 11,962. 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 Seal Beach’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Seal Beach
On a workday 8,941 residents head out to work, 515 work right here, and 11,447 people come in from elsewhere.
About 27,000 people are in Seal Beach on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.27 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.
11% of working residents work in Los Angeles
Where Seal Beach 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Seal Beach
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Seal Beach is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #286 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.3% 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 9,207 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 80% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 16% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.9 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). 9.8% of Seal Beach households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Seal Beach’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Seal Beach is 763rd among 1,642 U.S. towns of 17,000 to 33,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Orinda CA | 19,507 | $250K | 2.2% | 3.4% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 138 | Lafayette CA | 25,313 | $228K | 2.9% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 761 | Ferguson Township PA | 18,813 | $86K | 18.2% | 4.8% | 11% | B+ |
| 762 | Colchester VT | 17,565 | $98K | 7.0% | 3.8% | 16% | B+ |
| 763 | Seal Beach CA | 24,075 | $86K | 6.7% | 4.7% | 5% | B+ |
| 764 | New Hartford NY | 21,945 | $81K | 10.5% | 1.9% | 23% | B+ |
| 765 | Cedar Mill OR | 19,471 | $164K | 8.1% | 7.8% | 3% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,642 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 37% | 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 Seal Beach, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Bordering towns draw 16% of Seal Beach’s workers
The biggest share goes to Long Beach (10%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Seal Beach workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seal Beach | – | B+ | A | 29 min | $85,964 |
| Huntington Beach | 4% | B+ | A | 28 min | $120,919 |
| Rossmoor | under 3% | A | A− | 28 min | $211,597 |
| Long Beach | 10% | B | A | 30 min | $87,430 |
| Los Alamitos | 2% | B | A | 31 min | $97,155 |
| Westminster | under 3% | B− | A | 27 min | $85,541 |
| Garden Grove | under 3% | B | A− | 29 min | $92,174 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Seal 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 Seal Beach: questions
What is the median household income in Seal Beach?
$85,964 (±$8,468) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Seal Beach?
6.7%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Seal Beach?
29 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Seal Beach work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Los Angeles (11%, 27 mi), Long Beach (10%, 6 mi), Irvine (5%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Seal Beach walkable?
Seal Beach is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.9 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Seal Beach without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 16% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Seal Beach, from the people who make the trip.
More of Seal 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.