With 0.6 jobs for every working resident, most of Seaside works elsewhere
Seaside has 6,720 jobs, and 12,090 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Seaside are C+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. 8% of workers have no commute at all, against 17% across California.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Seaside
The figures behind Seaside’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Seaside is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #564 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Seaside’s grade up (ahead of 63% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (16.0%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Seaside could be anywhere from C to B−.
The daily trip from Seaside: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Seaside workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 14,508 commuters (the 8% 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 Seaside, and who commutes in
On a workday 10,947 residents head out to work, 1,143 work right here, and 5,577 people come in from elsewhere.
About 26,000 people are in Seaside on a workday afternoon, 17% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
25% of working residents work in Monterey
Where Seaside clocks in
25% of workers
8% 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.
The kinds of work in Seaside
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Seaside, 2013 → 2023: 5,565 → 6,720. 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 Seaside’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Seaside, by distance
About 26% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Seaside
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Seaside is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns, #126 of 847 in California. Both inputs place Seaside 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 15,817 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 52% 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). 6.1% of Seaside households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Seaside’s commuters take a bus or train.
Seaside is 1,031st of 1,368 U.S. towns of 22,000 to 43,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Lafayette CA | 25,313 | $228K | 2.9% | 4.3% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,029 | Hastings NE | 25,121 | $64K | 14.8% | 2.9% | 54% | C+ |
| 1,030 | Fairbanks AK | 31,468 | $74K | 8.7% | 5.7% | — | C+ |
| 1,031 | Seaside CA | 31,636 | $85K | 16.0% | 5.9% | 9% | C+ |
| 1,032 | Bay Point CA | 24,231 | $83K | 14.4% | 10.1% | 2% | C+ |
| 1,033 | South Miami Heights FL | 38,766 | $65K | 15.5% | 5.8% | 4% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,368 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Seaside, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Seaside and its neighbors: 29% work next door
The biggest share goes to Monterey (25%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Seaside workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seaside | – | C+ | A | 21 min | $85,311 |
| Monterey | 25% | B | A+ | 19 min | $102,846 |
| Sand City | 2% | — | — | 21 min | — |
| Del Rey Oaks | under 2% | A | B+ | 22 min | $134,500 |
| Marina | 2% | B− | A | 24 min | $95,955 |
Same-state neighbors only. Sand City: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Seaside’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 Seaside: questions
What is the median household income in Seaside?
$85,311 (±$5,518) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Seaside?
16.0%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Seaside?
21 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Seaside work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Monterey (25%, 4 mi), Salinas (8%, 11 mi), Del Monte Forest (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Seaside walkable?
Seaside is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 14.0 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Seaside without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 52% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Seaside, from the people who make the trip.
More of Seaside
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.