Region Six Personnel Training Station · Photo: Ian Poellet · CC BY-SA 3.0Carson has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Carson has 332 jobs for 1,075 working residents. For jobs and income Carson is better than 26% of U.S. towns (C); for walkability it is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (A). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 8.3 in Vancouver.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Carson and work: the main findings
A lot of Carson workers cross into Oregon
25% of Carson workers work outside Washington, the Census survey finds. In the commute data, Portland (7%), Hood River (4%) and Salem (2%) are among the top workplaces. The commute map ↓
Carson empties out on a workday
About 1,600 people are in Carson on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than the 2,300 who live here: 970 head out to work and 230 come in. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Carson
The poverty rate holds Carson’s grade up (8.5%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (8.6%) is left out: Carson’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, Carson could be anywhere from D to B.
19% of working residents work in Stevenson
Where Carson clocks in
19% 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.
Carson by day and by night
On a workday 969 residents head out to work, 106 work right here, and 226 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Carson on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer 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.
How far it is to work from Carson
About 30% 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.
32% of the jobs in Carson make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carson, 2013 → 2023: 129 → 332. 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 Carson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Carson: about 28 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carson workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 782 commuters (the 6% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Carson
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 14.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, on an EPA index of 8.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 836 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 66% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 66% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 47% 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 Carson households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Carson’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Carson ranks: 3,675th of 5,328 U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Medina WA | 2,974 | $250K | 4.7% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | Cathcart WA | 2,064 | $130K | 3.2% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | Meadow Glade WA | 2,281 | $129K | 2.4% | 0.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,673 | Varick NY | 1,635 | $80K | 17.6% | 6.1% | 2% | C |
| 3,674 | Roxbury NY | 2,203 | $58K | 5.4% | 5.6% | 17% | C |
| 3,675 | Carson WA | 2,318 | $69K | 8.5% | 8.6% | 10% | C |
| 3,676 | Mount Ayr IA | 1,637 | $74K | 10.9% | 4.0% | 27% | C |
| 3,677 | Chesaning MI | 2,399 | $60K | 13.9% | 4.9% | 23% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | 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 Carson, 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 Carson: questions
What is the median household income in Carson?
$68,929 (±$26,966) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carson?
8.5%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carson?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carson work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Stevenson (19%, 4 mi), Portland (7%, 42 mi), Vancouver (5%, 38 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carson walkable?
Carson is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 66% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carson
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.