Photo: Williamborg · CC BY-SA 3.0Making a living in Asotin
The average commute takes 16 minutes each way, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. For jobs and income Asotin is better than 27% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (C). Only 6% work in Asotin itself; outside it, Lewiston draws the most (31%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Asotin stands out on work
Most Asotin residents work close to home
67% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
A lot of Asotin workers cross into Idaho
35% of Asotin workers work outside Washington, most of them in Idaho, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
31% of Asotin works in Lewiston
124 working residents, 31%, have their main job in Lewiston, ID, 4.7 miles away. That’s 5 times as many as work in Asotin itself. The commute map ↓
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 400 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Asotin
Household income holds Asotin’s grade up ($77,083, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (3.8%) is left out: Asotin’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Asotin could be anywhere from D− to B.
How far it is to work from Asotin
About 27% 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.
The places Asotin commutes to
Where Asotin clocks in
31% 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.
How a workday changes Asotin
On a workday 376 residents head out to work, 24 work right here, and 366 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.98 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
In Asotin, services account for most jobs
390 jobs are based in Asotin.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Asotin, 2013 → 2023: 499 → 390. 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 Asotin’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Asotin, about 16 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Asotin workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 301 commuters (the 14% 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.
The commute in Asotin is mostly behind the wheel
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, on an EPA index of 4.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 352 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 8.6% of Asotin households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Asotin’s commuters take a bus or train.
Asotin next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600: 2,565th of 4,312 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Yarrow Point WA | 1,143 | $250K | 4.5% | 2.2% | 0% | A+ |
| 20 | Woodway WA | 1,316 | $205K | 2.1% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Fife Heights WA | 1,446 | $157K | 2.4% | 4.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,563 | Clear Lake WA | 1,093 | $72K | 14.0% | 1.9% | 1% | C |
| 2,564 | Sloan IA | 1,078 | $68K | 13.9% | 8.4% | 7% | C |
| 2,565 | Asotin WA | 1,187 | $77K | 10.2% | 3.8% | 6% | C |
| 2,566 | Granville WV | 1,362 | $32K | 45.8% | 11.0% | 4% | C |
| 2,567 | Green Lake WI | 1,040 | $56K | 11.6% | 4.0% | 13% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Asotin, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
Work in the towns next to Asotin
The biggest share goes to Clarkston Heights-Vineland (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Asotin workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asotin | – | C | C | 16 min | $77,083 |
| Clarkston Heights-Vineland | 2% | B+ | D | 18 min | $101,286 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Asotin’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 Asotin: questions
What is the median household income in Asotin?
$77,083 (±$50,232) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Asotin?
10.2%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Asotin?
16 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Asotin work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lewiston (31%, 5 mi), Clarkston (21%, 6 mi), Spokane (5%, 94 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Asotin walkable?
Asotin is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Asotin without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Asotin, from the people who make the trip.
More of Asotin
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.