This MFI Report presents the evolution of Irvine with a focus on its function as a job center. Although Irvine is well-known as a planned community with villages allowing for a comfortable suburban lifestyle, it nonetheless functions as a large job center to a degree that might surprise many people. Since 1980, it has retained the highest jobs/workers ratio in the Southern California region while also experiencing the fastest job growth in professional service industries throughout the region, particularly in computing and engineering occupations. As a consequence, the city has a much higher composition of high income jobs compared to the region—about 70% to 90% more than the region overall—and therefore fewer low and average income jobs. We explore how Irvine has grown and transformed over the last 50 years with a focus on the number and types of jobs that are located in the city. We also describe where the workers in these jobs are coming from.
Read the Report on Irvine at 50: From a Planned Community to a Growing Job Center
