Economy: Jobs per Employed Resident

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Why is this a Climate Smart indicator?

This metric is an indicator of how many people need to travel outside of the City of San José for work. Creating local jobs will reduce the need for commuter car journeys. This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, traffic, air and stormwater pollution and the number of crashes. This will also increase quality of life by reducing the amount of time spent commuting.

What is the City doing to make progress on this indicator?

Completed

Downtown West Mixed-Use Plan (approved 5/25/21)
Seven Urban Village Plans (since 2018), with Capitol Caltrain Station Area Plan most recently approved (11/28/23.) The General Plan identifies Urban Villages within San José that focus on jobs and high-density growth to foster vibrant, walkable, bicycle-friendly, transit-oriented, mixed-use urban settings for new housing and job growth.

In Progress / Ongoing

Business outreach, including focused retention and expansion visits with companies located within, or appropriately suited to locate in, key employment areas
Partner with local companies, associations and agencies to identify unique attributes of the local economy that enhance San José’s value add in attracting new companies and investment
Promote the key attributes of areas experiencing significant development to businesses looking to expand in or move to San José, the brokerage community and property owners and developers working in the area

Facilitate the development of Downtown West, a massive new mixed-use corporate campus within the Diridon Station Area. The project would include retail and housing and bring as many as 20,000 jobs to the downtown over the next decade or two
Participate in the Bay Area Urban Manufacturing Initiative
Development of three new Urban Village Plans (anticipated adoption Fall 2025 – Winter 2026): Five Wounds, Eastside Alum Rock, and Saratoga Avenue.

About the data

Sources

Jobs data are from the California Employment Development Department (workers that are not self-employed) and American Community Survey (self-employed workers). Data on the number of employed residents are also from the California Employment Development Department.

Last updated

July 2025