Photo: Bluesnote · CC BY-SA 4.0A job hub: Thousand Palms has 2.0 jobs per working resident, and 5,570 people come in to work
Employers in Thousand Palms report 5,772 jobs; 2,879 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Thousand Palms B−; getting around on foot earns it B. Only 7% work in Thousand Palms itself; outside it, Palm Desert draws the most (13%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Thousand Palms: the gist
Thousand Palms is where the jobs are
Thousand Palms has 5,772 jobs, 2.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Thousand Palms has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Thousand Palms went from 3,644 in 2013 to 5,772 in 2023, +58%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Thousand Palms are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% 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 ↓
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.
The figures behind Thousand Palms’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Thousand Palms is better than 52% of U.S. towns, #492 of 847 in California. Job access by car holds Thousand Palms’ grade up (ahead of 62% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (5.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Thousand Palms could be anywhere from C− to A.
Who works in Thousand Palms, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 2,677 residents head out to work and 202 work right here.
About 11,000 people are in Thousand Palms on a workday afternoon, 37% 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.
In Thousand Palms, 31% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Thousand Palms, 2013 → 2023: 3,644 → 5,772. 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 Thousand Palms’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 22 minutes each way, quicker than most of California
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Thousand Palms workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,886 commuters (the 10% 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 it is to work from Thousand Palms
About 34% 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.
Who travels to work in Thousand Palms, and from where
Where Thousand Palms clocks in
13% of workers
12% 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.
Most trips from Thousand Palms start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Thousand Palms is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns, #663 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.6% 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 3,218 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 86% 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 0.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 57% 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). 3.0% of Thousand Palms households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Thousand Palms’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Thousand Palms is 1,709th of 3,051 U.S. towns of 5,400 to 10,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Las Flores CA | 5,513 | $212K | 4.8% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Gold River CA | 7,924 | $175K | 2.9% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 193 | Lucas Valley-Marinwood CA | 6,473 | $201K | 4.2% | 2.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,707 | Edinboro PA | 5,790 | $48K | 20.5% | 0.4% | 13% | B− |
| 1,708 | Oak Bluffs MA | 5,428 | $145K | 2.2% | 12.6% | 29% | B− |
| 1,709 | Thousand Palms CA | 7,720 | $77K | 9.2% | 5.2% | 7% | B− |
| 1,710 | Glenwood Springs CO | 10,395 | $91K | 7.9% | 4.5% | 35% | B− |
| 1,711 | Dunellen NJ | 8,337 | $87K | 22.6% | 5.5% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,051 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Thousand Palms, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Bordering towns draw 18% of Thousand Palms’ workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Thousand Palms workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thousand Palms | – | B− | B | 22 min | $77,000 |
| Desert Palms | under 3% | C+ | C− | 25 min | $79,792 |
| Sky Valley | under 3% | D | B | 34 min | $51,190 |
| Palm Desert | 13% | B− | B+ | 21 min | $77,513 |
| Cathedral City | 5% | C+ | A− | 20 min | $73,572 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Palm Desert. Darker towns draw more of Thousand Palms’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 Thousand Palms: questions
What is the median household income in Thousand Palms?
$77,000 (±$27,784) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Thousand Palms?
9.2%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Thousand Palms?
22 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Thousand Palms work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Palm Desert (13%, 5 mi), Palm Springs (12%, 11 mi), Rancho Mirage (8%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Thousand Palms walkable?
Thousand Palms is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 10.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Thousand Palms without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Thousand Palms, from the people who make the trip.
More of Thousand Palms
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.