Thermal draws 1,587 commuters a day, with 1.8 jobs for every working resident
3% of workers work from home, next to 17% for California as a whole. 1,615 jobs are based in Thermal, against 907 working residents. Thermal grades B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Thermal apart
Thermal is where the jobs are
Thermal has 1,615 jobs, 1.8 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
40% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Thermal than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Thermal fell from 2,472 in 2013 to 1,615 in 2023, −35%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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; with 907 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The workday shuffle in and out of Thermal
On a workday 879 residents head out to work and 28 work right here.
About 2,500 people are in Thermal on a workday afternoon, 39% more 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.
Thermal’s commute, mile by mile
About 40% 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.
Goods, not services: 36% of the jobs in Thermal
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Thermal, 2013 → 2023: 2,472 → 1,615. 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 Thermal’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip into Thermal
Where Thermal clocks in
11% of workers
9% 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 daily trip from Thermal: about 22 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Thermal workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 803 commuters (the 3% 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.
In Thermal, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Thermal is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 6.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 828 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 60% 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 1.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 66% 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). 4.8% of Thermal households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Thermal’s commuters take a bus or train.
Work in the towns next to Thermal
The biggest share goes to Coachella (9%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Thermal’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 Thermal: questions
What is the poverty rate in Thermal?
19.3%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Thermal?
22 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Thermal work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Indio (11%, 10 mi), Coachella (9%, 4 mi), Palm Desert (8%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Thermal walkable?
Thermal is more walkable than 73% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Thermal without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Thermal, from the people who make the trip.
More of Thermal
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.