Photo: BrandonHansen18 · CC BY-SA 4.0Chewelah has lower household incomes than 82% of U.S. towns
Below the poverty line: 16.8% of residents; Washington has 9.9%. For jobs and income Chewelah is better than 12% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (B). About one in seven work in Chewelah itself; outside it, Spokane draws the most (15%, 44 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Chewelah, in a few figures
Chewelah’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Chewelah is Spokane, 45 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (146) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Chewelah are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Washington 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; with 952 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Income, poverty and work: Chewelah’s grade explained
Unemployment holds Chewelah’s grade up (4.6%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chewelah could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Chewelah’s commute, mile by mile
About 27% 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.
Commuting from Chewelah: about 16 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chewelah workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 906 commuters (the 13% 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.
How many people are in Chewelah by day
On a workday 800 residents head out to work, 152 work right here, and 754 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 (0.95 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.
Where Chewelah goes to work
Where Chewelah clocks in
15% of workers
13% 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.
Jobs in Chewelah: what the 906 are
906 jobs are based in Chewelah.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chewelah, 2013 → 2023: 806 → 906. 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 Chewelah’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most of Chewelah commutes by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, on an EPA index of 6.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,038 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). 9.0% of Chewelah households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chewelah’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Chewelah is 4,256th among 4,969 U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Clearview WA | 3,254 | $193K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Medina WA | 2,974 | $250K | 4.7% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | Cathcart WA | 2,064 | $130K | 3.2% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,254 | Pebble Township OH | 2,462 | $60K | 13.3% | 7.3% | 1% | D |
| 4,255 | North Corbin KY | 2,190 | $51K | 34.0% | 1.3% | 3% | D |
| 4,256 | Chewelah WA | 2,712 | $54K | 16.8% | 4.6% | 16% | D |
| 4,257 | Black Canyon City AZ | 2,181 | $47K | 13.3% | 10.5% | 5% | D |
| 4,258 | Greenfield IA | 2,070 | $57K | 14.3% | 0.3% | 35% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,969 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Chewelah, 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 Chewelah: questions
What is the median household income in Chewelah?
$54,167 (±$7,394) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chewelah?
16.8%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chewelah?
16 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chewelah work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Spokane (15%, 44 mi), Colville (13%, 20 mi), Spokane Valley (5%, 48 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chewelah walkable?
Chewelah is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.5 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chewelah without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chewelah, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chewelah
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.