Photo: Steven Pavlov · CC BY-SA 3.0Buckley’s household incomes are higher than in 90% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income B+: better than 67% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #126 of 285 in Washington.
Walkability C+: more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns · #231 of 285 in Washington.
Working residents average 32 minutes each way (Washington 27, U.S. 26). About one in ten work in Buckley; the top destination outside it is Seattle (11%, 35 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Buckley, in brief
Buckley trades workers with the towns around it
Buckley has about as many jobs (2,300) as working residents (2,294), but they are mostly different people: 2,105 residents leave for work each day while 2,111 people come in. Only 8% of the jobs in Buckley are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Buckley’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Buckley is Seattle, 35 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (257) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Buckley workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 27 across Washington. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 38 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.
What’s behind Buckley’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Buckley is better than 67% of U.S. towns, #126 of 285 in Washington. Household income holds Buckley’s grade up ($124,583, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (4.5%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Buckley could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 2,105 residents head out to work, 189 work right here, and 2,111 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 (1.00 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.
Half of Buckley commutes less than 19 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
About 32 minutes each way, longer than most of Washington
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Buckley workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,110 commuters (the 16% who work from home are left out). Across Washington: 79% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
11% of working residents work in Seattle
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Buckley clocks in
11% of workers
8% of workers
6% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
What the 2,300 jobs in Buckley are
2,300 jobs are based in Buckley. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Buckley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Buckley, 2013 → 2023: 2,250 → 2,300. 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.
Most trips from Buckley start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Buckley is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns, #231 of 285 in Washington. Both inputs place Buckley 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 2,519 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 0.0 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). 2.3% of Buckley households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Buckley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Buckley is 1,275th of 3,476 U.S. towns of 4,000 to 7,700 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Buckley, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Larch Way WA | 4,424 | $160K | 1.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Normandy Park WA | 6,609 | $162K | 4.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 205 | Wollochet WA | 6,689 | $149K | 1.5% | 3.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,273 | Girard Township PA | 4,780 | $95K | 5.4% | 3.6% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,274 | Valparaiso FL | 4,896 | $90K | 3.4% | 4.4% | 9% | B+ |
| 1,275 | Buckley WA | 5,688 | $125K | 9.3% | 4.5% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,276 | Hensley Township IN | 4,086 | $91K | 2.5% | 6.6% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,277 | Grand Rapids WI | 7,622 | $97K | 7.2% | 2.8% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,476 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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.
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 Buckley: questions
What is the median household income in Buckley?
$124,583 (±$6,299) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Buckley?
9.3%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Buckley?
32 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Buckley work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Seattle (11%, 35 mi), Enumclaw (8%, 3 mi), Kent (6%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Buckley walkable?
Buckley is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Buckley without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Buckley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Buckley
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.