Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0Walker Lake has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.1 for each
Hardly any stay in Walker Lake for work; outside it, Hawthorne is the main destination (22%, 11 miles). There are 9 jobs in Walker Lake, and 110 of its residents work somewhere. Commuters spend 39 minutes getting to work on average; Nevada averages 25, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Walker Lake by day and by night
On a workday 110 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 9 people come in from elsewhere.
About 280 people are in Walker Lake on a workday afternoon, 27% 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.
Where Walker Lake goes to work
Where Walker Lake clocks in
22% of workers
10% 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.
In Walker Lake, 100% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Walker Lake, 2013 → 2023: 14 → 9. 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 Walker Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Walker Lake: about 39 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Walker Lake workers work from home, vs 12% across Nevada. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 98 commuters (the 10% who work from home are left out). Across Nevada: 80% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Walker Lake
About 63% 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.
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 Walker Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Walker Lake?
$50,455 (±$16,848) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $78,260 across Nevada and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Walker Lake?
24.5%, against 12.4% across Nevada and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Walker Lake?
39 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Nevada and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Walker Lake work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Hawthorne (22%, 11 mi), Reno (10%, 86 mi), Schurz (5%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Walker Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Walker Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Walker Lake
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.