Most of Mountain View commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
171 jobs are based in Mountain View; 319 of its residents have a job. Mountain View grades D for jobs and income and B− for walkability. Only 3% work in Mountain View; the top destination outside it is Hilo (25%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Mountain View and work: the main findings
A big share show a job far from home
56% 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 ↓
Mountain View and Hilo trade workers both ways
Hilo is the top workplace for Mountain View residents (25%) and also where the most people who work in Mountain View come from (40% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Mountain View workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 40 minutes each way, against 26 across Hawaii. Over a year that’s about 307 hours of commuting, 107 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 319 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Mountain View’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mountain View is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #88 of 93 in Hawaii. Household income holds Mountain View’s grade up ($69,299, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mountain View could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Where in the region Mountain View works
About 56% 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.
The towns that employ Mountain View’s residents
Where Mountain View clocks in
Lines 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.
About 40 minutes each way, longer than most of Hawaii
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mountain View workers work from home, vs 10% across Hawaii. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,336 commuters (the 5% who work from home are left out). Across Hawaii: 72% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 311 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 163 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Mountain View
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mountain View, 2013 → 2023: 99 → 171. 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 Mountain View’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Mountain View start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mountain View is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns, #65 of 93 in Hawaii. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 10.0% across Hawaii, on an EPA index of 4.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,411 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 2.6% of Mountain View households have no vehicle (Hawaii 8.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mountain View’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Mountain View compares with U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 561 | Waikapu HI | 3,591 | $123K | 4.8% | 1.8% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,107 | Waimanalo Beach HI | 4,505 | $127K | 6.8% | 4.4% | 0% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,179 | Puhi HI | 4,362 | $137K | 8.5% | 2.8% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,102 | Weaverville CA | 4,018 | $66K | 17.5% | 8.3% | 50% | D |
| 4,103 | Experiment GA | 3,387 | $33K | 33.7% | 12.4% | 1% | D |
| 4,104 | Mountain View HI | 3,756 | $69K | 20.9% | 7.7% | 3% | D |
| 4,105 | Ashdown AR | 4,135 | $56K | 20.8% | 10.2% | 21% | D |
| 4,106 | New Roads LA | 4,216 | $51K | 24.6% | 10.0% | 22% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,430 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Mountain View, the top three, the last and three more from Hawaii.
Mountain View and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mountain View workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain View | – | D | B− | 40 min | $69,299 |
| Fern Forest | under 2% | D− | B− | 49 min | $42,917 |
| Kurtistown | under 2% | B | C | 37 min | $96,165 |
| Eden Roc | under 2% | D− | D | 45 min | $24,771 |
| Fern Acres | under 2% | D− | C | 32 min | $40,400 |
| Hawaiian Acres | under 2% | C+ | C | 36 min | $91,120 |
| Volcano | under 2% | — | — | 43 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Volcano: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mountain View’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 Mountain View: questions
What is the median household income in Mountain View?
$69,299 (±$24,363) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $100,389 across Hawaii and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mountain View?
20.9%, against 10.0% across Hawaii and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mountain View?
40 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Hawaii and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mountain View work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hilo (25%, 12 mi), Urban Honolulu (21%, 212 mi), Kailua (5%, 54 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mountain View walkable?
Mountain View is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 4.0 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mountain View without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mountain View, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mountain View
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.