Photo: Nicolas Henderson · CC BY 2.0Most of Magna commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
6,826 jobs are based in Magna for 14,562 working residents. Magna grades B+ for jobs and income and B for walkability. Only 4% work in Magna itself; outside it, Salt Lake City draws the most (32%, 14 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Magna: the figures worth knowing
Jobs in Magna have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Magna went from 2,922 in 2013 to 6,826 in 2023, +134%. The jobs ↓
Much of Magna works one town over
45% of working residents work in a town that borders Magna: Salt Lake City (32%) and West Valley City (13%). Next door ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
54% of the jobs in Magna are in trade, transport and utilities, against 27% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Young people hold many of the jobs here
33% of the jobs based in Magna are held by workers 29 or younger, against 29% of Magna’s own working residents. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Magna
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Magna is better than 67% of U.S. towns, #78 of 119 in Utah. Job access by car holds Magna’s grade up (ahead of 86% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (10.8%, 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, Magna could be anywhere from B− to A.
The kinds of work in Magna
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Magna, 2013 → 2023: 2,922 → 6,826. 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 Magna’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Magna: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 14,014 residents head out to work, 548 work right here, and 6,278 people come in from elsewhere.
About 28,000 people are in Magna on a workday afternoon, 22% 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.
The towns that employ Magna’s residents
Where Magna clocks in
32% of workers
5% 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.
About 24 minutes to work from Magna
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Magna workers work from home, vs 18% across Utah. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,032 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across Utah: 82% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Short hops and long hauls from Magna
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.
Most trips from Magna start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Magna is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns, #72 of 119 in Utah. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.0% across Utah.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 14,541 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 74% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 6% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 83% 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). 5.3% of Magna households have no vehicle (Utah 4.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Magna’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,219 U.S. towns of 25,000 to 48,000, Magna comes 635th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 77 | Holladay UT | 31,162 | $117K | 4.1% | 2.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Syracuse UT | 39,909 | $133K | 4.8% | 1.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Kaysville UT | 33,307 | $133K | 3.4% | 2.8% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 633 | Mandan ND | 25,061 | $72K | 9.8% | 1.5% | 25% | B+ |
| 634 | Fairhope AL | 26,625 | $94K | 8.2% | 3.5% | 21% | B+ |
| 635 | Magna UT | 35,401 | $90K | 10.8% | 4.5% | 4% | B+ |
| 636 | Tumwater WA | 28,010 | $95K | 7.0% | 5.3% | 17% | B+ |
| 637 | Derry Township PA | 25,179 | $97K | 13.1% | 3.8% | 35% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,219 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Magna, the top three, the last and three more from Utah.
The towns next door employ 45% of Magna
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Magna workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magna | – | B+ | B | 24 min | $90,346 |
| Salt Lake City | 32% | B | A+ | 20 min | $75,090 |
| West Valley City | 13% | B+ | A | 23 min | $92,209 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Salt Lake City. Darker towns draw more of Magna’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 Magna: questions
What is the median household income in Magna?
$90,346 (±$7,869) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,166 across Utah and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Magna?
10.8%, against 8.5% across Utah and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Magna?
24 minutes each way on average, against 22 across Utah and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Magna work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Salt Lake City (32%, 14 mi), West Valley City (13%, 10 mi), South Salt Lake (5%, 16 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Magna walkable?
Magna is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 10.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Magna without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 6% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Magna, from the people who make the trip.
More of Magna
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.