Photo: Toglenn · CC BY-SA 4.0Twentynine Palms has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Twentynine Palms grades C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Employers in Twentynine Palms report 2,994 jobs, and 7,579 of its residents work somewhere. Home is the office for 9% of workers, where California as a whole has 17%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Twentynine Palms apart
A big share show a job far from home
68% 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 ↓
Commutes from Twentynine Palms are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 29 across California. That’s about 100 hours a year less on the road than the typical California worker. Time on the road ↓
Twentynine Palms’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Twentynine Palms is Los Angeles, 135 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (617) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
No single place dominates Twentynine Palms’ commute
The biggest draw, Los Angeles, gets only 8% of working residents, and 59% work outside the top ten towns entirely. Twentynine Palms residents fan out across the region. The commute map ↓
Nearly all the work in Twentynine Palms is services
86% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 3% are in factories, building or farms. 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.
Where Twentynine Palms’ Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Twentynine Palms is better than 22% of U.S. towns, #700 of 847 in California. Unemployment holds Twentynine Palms’ grade up (3.9%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Twentynine Palms could be anywhere from D to C+.
Where in the region Twentynine Palms works
About 68% 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.
How long Twentynine Palms spends getting to work: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Twentynine Palms workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,529 commuters (the 9% 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.
8% of working residents work in Los Angeles
Where Twentynine Palms clocks in
4% of workers
2% 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.
In Twentynine Palms, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Twentynine Palms, 2013 → 2023: 2,593 → 2,994. 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 Twentynine Palms’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Twentynine Palms by day and by night
On a workday 6,371 residents head out to work, 1,208 work right here, and 1,786 people come in from elsewhere.
About 21,000 people are in Twentynine Palms on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
Most of Twentynine Palms commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Twentynine Palms is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #516 of 847 in California. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 15.5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 7.1% across California, on an EPA index of 6.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,841 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 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). 3.6% of Twentynine Palms households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Twentynine Palms’ commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Twentynine Palms is 1,416th of 1,576 U.S. towns of 18,000 to 35,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | Manhattan Beach CA | 33,122 | $204K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 122 | Saratoga CA | 30,418 | $250K | 3.3% | 4.0% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,414 | Stuart FL | 19,451 | $60K | 17.3% | 8.2% | 24% | C− |
| 1,415 | Painesville OH | 20,660 | $52K | 25.6% | 6.5% | 10% | C− |
| 1,416 | Twentynine Palms CA | 25,939 | $63K | 14.5% | 3.9% | 16% | C− |
| 1,417 | Maple Heights OH | 22,902 | $53K | 25.4% | 11.6% | 3% | C− |
| 1,418 | Chambersburg PA | 23,376 | $57K | 15.3% | 7.8% | 27% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,576 | 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 Twentynine Palms, the top three, the last and three more from California.
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 Twentynine Palms: questions
What is the median household income in Twentynine Palms?
$62,554 (±$8,077) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Twentynine Palms?
14.5%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Twentynine Palms?
16 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Twentynine Palms work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Los Angeles (8%, 134 mi), Yucca Valley (4%, 20 mi), Palm Desert (2%, 33 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Twentynine Palms walkable?
Twentynine Palms is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 15% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Twentynine Palms without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Twentynine Palms, from the people who make the trip.
More of Twentynine 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.