Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0Burlington has 1.9 jobs for every working resident: 7,812 people commute in to work
There are 8,374 jobs in Burlington for 4,345 working residents. Jobs and income earn Burlington B−; getting around on foot earns it B. For 7% of workers, the job is at home, next to 20% for Washington as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Burlington
Burlington is where the jobs are
Burlington has 8,374 jobs, 1.9 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Burlington draws workers from far and wide
The 8,374 jobs in Burlington are filled from a wide area. Burlington’s own residents hold 7% and the ten next-biggest home towns 33%; the other 60% come from many towns beyond those. 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.
Inside Burlington’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Burlington is better than 45% of U.S. towns, #208 of 285 in Washington. Household income holds Burlington’s grade up ($80,475, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (14.5%, U.S. 12.5%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Burlington could be anywhere from C to B+.
Who works in Burlington, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 3,783 residents head out to work and 562 work right here.
About 15,000 people are in Burlington on a workday afternoon, 35% more 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 the people who work in Burlington live
Where Burlington clocks in
14% of workers
6% of workers
6% 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.
What Burlington’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Burlington, 2013 → 2023: 7,734 → 8,374. 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 Burlington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Burlington: about 25 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Burlington workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,530 commuters (the 7% 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.
Burlington’s commute, mile by mile
About 26% 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.
In Burlington, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Burlington is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns, #187 of 285 in Washington. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 8.9% across Washington.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,890 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). 4.5% of Burlington households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Burlington’s commuters take a bus or train.
Burlington places 1,621st of 2,507 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Maltby WA | 10,910 | $185K | 3.9% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | Bothell East WA | 14,578 | $199K | 3.6% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 129 | Snoqualmie WA | 13,640 | $214K | 0.8% | 2.6% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,619 | Black Township IN | 8,813 | $71K | 15.1% | 2.9% | 39% | B− |
| 1,620 | Guttenberg NJ | 11,910 | $76K | 19.2% | 6.8% | 3% | B− |
| 1,621 | Burlington WA | 11,356 | $80K | 14.5% | 4.3% | 13% | B− |
| 1,622 | Westwego LA | 8,317 | $46K | 20.2% | 2.7% | 5% | B− |
| 1,623 | Haiku-Pauwela HI | 9,178 | $101K | 8.3% | 5.7% | 9% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Burlington, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
Burlington and its neighbors: 14% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Burlington workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burlington | – | B− | B | 25 min | $80,475 |
| Mount Vernon | 14% | C | B+ | 23 min | $75,777 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Mount Vernon. Darker towns draw more of Burlington’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 Burlington: questions
What is the median household income in Burlington?
$80,475 (±$10,532) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Burlington?
14.5%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Burlington?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Burlington work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mount Vernon (14%, 3 mi), Seattle (6%, 58 mi), Bellingham (6%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Burlington walkable?
Burlington is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Burlington without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Burlington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Burlington
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.