Photo: Ian Poellet · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Amboy commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
There are 162 jobs in Amboy, and 793 of its residents work somewhere. Jobs and income earn Amboy B−; getting around on foot earns it B. Measured by household income, Amboy is ahead of 85% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Amboy apart
Amboy is a place people come home to
There are 162 jobs based in Amboy, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Amboy has about 1,100 people in it, 37% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Amboy and Vancouver trade workers both ways
Vancouver is the top workplace for Amboy residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Amboy come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Amboy workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 41 minutes each way, against 27 across Washington. Over a year that’s about 314 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 793 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Amboy’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Amboy is better than 50% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Amboy’s grade up ($112,277, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (4.8%) is left out: Amboy’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Amboy could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Who works in Amboy, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 780 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 149 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Amboy on a workday afternoon, 37% 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.
17% of working residents work in Vancouver
Where Amboy clocks in
17% of workers
9% 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.
Commuting from Amboy: about 41 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 13.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Amboy workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 508 commuters (the 25% who work from home are left out). Across Washington: 79% 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.
Making and building: 57% of jobs based in Amboy
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Amboy, 2013 → 2023: 112 → 162. 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 Amboy’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Amboy’s commute, mile by mile
About 20% 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.
Most of Amboy commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Amboy is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, on an EPA index of 5.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 675 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 7.3% of Amboy households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Amboy’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Amboy is 2,181st of 5,760 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Woodway WA | 1,316 | $205K | 2.1% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Fife Heights WA | 1,446 | $157K | 2.4% | 4.5% | 1% | A+ |
| 33 | Ames Lake WA | 1,245 | $250K | 1.1% | 3.1% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,179 | Limestone Creek FL | 1,466 | $91K | 29.6% | 2.4% | 1% | B− |
| 2,180 | Benns Church VA | 1,813 | $56K | 5.0% | 1.8% | <1% | B− |
| 2,181 | Amboy WA | 1,692 | $112K | 8.7% | 4.8% | 2% | B− |
| 2,182 | Wellman IA | 1,539 | $58K | 3.6% | 0.6% | 6% | B− |
| 2,183 | Hopkins Township IL | 1,966 | $97K | 6.8% | 6.4% | 5% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Amboy, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
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 Amboy: questions
What is the median household income in Amboy?
$112,277 (±$50,229) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Amboy?
8.7%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Amboy?
41 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 25% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Amboy work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Vancouver (17%, 20 mi), Battle Ground (9%, 10 mi), Portland (8%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Amboy walkable?
Amboy is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.1 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Amboy without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Amboy, from the people who make the trip.
More of Amboy
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.