Fort Okanogan, Sites of · Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 3.0Brewster’s household incomes are lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 24.6%, where Washington as a whole has 9.9%. Brewster grades D− for jobs and income and A for walkability. For 9% of workers, the job is at home (Washington 20%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Brewster in brief
Commutes from Brewster are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 100 hours a year less on the road than the typical Washington worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 521 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Brewster’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Brewster is better than 2% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Brewster’s grade.
Unemployment (4.7%) is left out: Brewster’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, Brewster could be anywhere from D− to D.
Getting to work from Brewster takes about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brewster workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 550 commuters (the 9% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Brewster
About 33% 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.
Who commutes out of Brewster, and who commutes in
On a workday 459 residents head out to work, 62 work right here, and 666 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,300 people are in Brewster on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.40 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.
7% of working residents work in Chelan
Where Brewster clocks in
7% of workers
4% 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.
Most jobs in Brewster are in services
728 jobs are based in Brewster.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brewster, 2013 → 2023: 717 → 728. 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 Brewster’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Brewster
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brewster is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Brewster near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 605 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). 13.3% of Brewster households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Brewster’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Brewster sits among U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Cathcart WA | 2,064 | $130K | 3.2% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 101 | Meadow Glade WA | 2,281 | $129K | 2.4% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 112 | Fall City WA | 1,618 | $177K | 2.2% | 3.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,009 | Ruleville MS | 2,278 | $33K | 33.9% | 19.9% | 17% | D− |
| 5,010 | Premont TX | 2,401 | $48K | 27.9% | 14.8% | 12% | D− |
| 5,011 | Brewster WA | 2,093 | $39K | 24.6% | 4.7% | 12% | D− |
| 5,012 | Warm Springs OR | 2,480 | $55K | 26.8% | 16.6% | 54% | D− |
| 5,013 | Salem AR | 1,611 | $41K | 29.1% | 4.4% | 35% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Brewster, 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 Brewster: questions
What is the median household income in Brewster?
$39,241 (±$11,274) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brewster?
24.6%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brewster?
14 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brewster work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Chelan (7%, 21 mi), Pateros (5%, 7 mi), Wenatchee (4%, 53 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brewster walkable?
Brewster is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.5 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brewster without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brewster, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brewster
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.