Photo: RanchoRosco at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Carnation has higher household incomes than 95% of U.S. towns
Carnation grades A for jobs and income and B− for walkability. The poverty rate is 1.6% (Washington 9.9%). For 28% of workers, the job is at home; Washington has 20%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Carnation
Carnation and Seattle trade workers both ways
Seattle is the top workplace for Carnation residents (19%) and also where the most people who work in Carnation come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Three in four Carnation workers earn over $40,000 a year
76% of Carnation’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
A lot of Carnation works from home
28% of Carnation workers work from home, against 20% across Washington. 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 961 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Carnation’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carnation is better than 93% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 53% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Carnation could be anywhere from A− to A+.
19% of working residents work in Seattle
Where Carnation clocks in
19% 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.
70% of the jobs in Carnation pay over $3,333 a month
365 jobs are based in Carnation.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carnation, 2013 → 2023: 298 → 365. 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 Carnation’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 31 minutes to work from Carnation
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carnation workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 880 commuters (the 28% 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 daily commute in and out of Carnation
On a workday 946 residents head out to work, 15 work right here, and 350 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Carnation on a workday afternoon, 24% fewer than live here.
0.38 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
How many miles Carnation commutes
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.
For most of Carnation, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Carnation is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 1,216 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 45% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 45% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 62% 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). 2.8% of Carnation households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Carnation’s commuters take a bus or train.
Carnation next to U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,300: 269th of 5,207 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Clearview WA | 3,254 | $193K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 91 | Medina WA | 2,974 | $250K | 4.7% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | Cathcart WA | 2,064 | $130K | 3.2% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 267 | Weyers Cave VA | 2,744 | $98K | 1.6% | 0.0% | 6% | A |
| 268 | Sag Harbor NY | 2,841 | $130K | 3.1% | 0.4% | 13% | A |
| 269 | Carnation WA | 2,471 | $153K | 1.6% | 2.5% | 2% | A |
| 270 | Cruger Township IL | 1,837 | $108K | 1.1% | 3.2% | 5% | A |
| 271 | Aromas CA | 3,245 | $148K | 3.1% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,207 | 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 Carnation, 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 Carnation: questions
What is the median household income in Carnation?
$152,763 (±$21,049) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carnation?
1.6%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carnation?
31 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 28% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carnation work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Seattle (19%, 21 mi), Redmond (15%, 10 mi), Bellevue (11%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carnation walkable?
Carnation is more walkable than 51% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 9.8 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carnation without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 45% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carnation, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carnation
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.