Clarkston Public Library · Photo: Ian Poellet · CC BY-SA 4.0Clarkston has higher unemployment (9.6%) than 93% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Clarkston D; getting around on foot earns it A−. Household incomes here are lower than in 82% of U.S. towns. 6% of workers work from home (Washington 20%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Clarkston stands out on work
Many Clarkston workers cross into Idaho
50% of Clarkston workers work outside Washington, most of them in Idaho, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Many of the people who work in Clarkston live in another state
Lewiston, ID (27%) and Moscow, ID (1%) are among the top places Clarkston’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 28% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
Commutes from Clarkston are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical Washington worker. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Clarkston works one town over
42% of working residents work in a town that borders Clarkston: Lewiston (38%) and West Clarkston-Highland (4%). Next door ↓
Most Clarkston residents work close to home
70% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. 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.
Why Clarkston gets the Jobs & income grade it does
All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Clarkston’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Clarkston could be anywhere from D− to C−.
38% of working residents work in Lewiston
Where Clarkston clocks in
38% 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.
How long Clarkston spends getting to work: about 13 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clarkston workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,810 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.
How far it is to work from Clarkston
About 23% 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.
How many people are in Clarkston by day
On a workday 2,303 residents head out to work, 637 work right here, and 3,556 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,400 people are in Clarkston on a workday afternoon, 17% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.43 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.
What Clarkston’s employers do
4,193 jobs are based in Clarkston.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clarkston, 2013 → 2023: 3,903 → 4,193. 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 Clarkston’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Clarkston is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clarkston is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #123 of 285 in Washington. Both inputs place Clarkston 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 3,000 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). 4.6% of Clarkston households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Clarkston’s commuters take a bus or train.
Clarkston and other U.S. towns of 5,000 to 9,700
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 117 | Normandy Park WA | 6,609 | $162K | 4.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 212 | Wollochet WA | 6,689 | $149K | 1.5% | 3.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 244 | Orting WA | 8,884 | $133K | 2.4% | 2.8% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 3,090 | La Follette TN | 7,176 | $38K | 28.2% | 7.5% | 14% | D |
| 3,091 | Anadarko OK | 5,448 | $43K | 24.5% | 6.2% | 32% | D |
| 3,092 | Clarkston WA | 7,189 | $54K | 20.7% | 9.6% | 22% | D |
| 3,093 | Southeast Arcadia FL | 7,555 | $60K | 26.4% | 12.4% | 3% | D |
| 3,094 | Tuskegee AL | 8,644 | $38K | 29.0% | 10.8% | 24% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,205 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Clarkston, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
Next door is work for 42% of Clarkston
The biggest share goes to Lewiston (38%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Clarkston workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clarkston | – | D | A− | 13 min | $54,152 |
| West Clarkston-Highland | 4% | C− | B | 13 min | $51,860 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Clarkston’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 Clarkston: questions
What is the median household income in Clarkston?
$54,152 (±$6,660) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clarkston?
20.7%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clarkston?
13 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clarkston work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lewiston (38%, 3 mi), West Clarkston-Highland (4%, 1 mi), Pullman (3%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clarkston walkable?
Clarkston is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.7 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clarkston without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clarkston, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clarkston
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.