Photo: Unknown photographer · Public domainMost of Clear Lake commutes out: there are 0.2 jobs for every working resident
118 jobs are based in Clear Lake; 527 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Clear Lake C; getting around on foot earns it B−. 2% of workers have no commute at all, against 20% across Washington.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Clear Lake apart on work
Clear Lake is a place people come home to
There are 118 jobs based in Clear Lake, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Clear Lake has about 680 people in it, 37% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Few Clear Lake workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 20% across Washington. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 527 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Clear Lake
On income, poverty and job access, Clear Lake is better than 27% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Clear Lake’s grade up ($71,667, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 27% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.9%) is left out: Clear Lake’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, Clear Lake could be anywhere from D to B+.
Who commutes out of Clear Lake, and who commutes in
On a workday 517 residents head out to work, 10 work right here, and 108 people come in from elsewhere.
About 680 people are in Clear Lake on a workday afternoon, 37% 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 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting from Clear Lake: about 30 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clear Lake workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 428 commuters (the 2% 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.
15% of working residents work in Mount Vernon
Where Clear Lake clocks in
15% of workers
11% of workers
8% 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.
Clear Lake works in goods: 41% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clear Lake, 2014 → 2024: 53 → 118. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Clear Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Clear Lake
About 28% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most of Clear Lake commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clear Lake is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, on an EPA index of 3.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 437 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). 1.4% of Clear Lake households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Clear Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500, Clear Lake ranks 2,230th of 3,771 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Yarrow Point WA | 1,143 | $250K | 4.5% | 2.2% | <1% | A+ |
| 18 | Woodway WA | 1,316 | $205K | 2.1% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Fife Heights WA | 1,446 | $157K | 2.4% | 4.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,228 | Echo Township MI | 1,009 | $71K | 8.5% | 4.8% | 0% | C |
| 2,229 | Pine Township PA | 1,023 | $56K | 9.6% | 4.5% | 1% | C |
| 2,230 | Clear Lake WA | 1,093 | $72K | 14.0% | 1.9% | 2% | C |
| 2,231 | Sloan IA | 1,078 | $68K | 13.9% | 8.4% | 7% | C |
| 2,232 | Asotin WA | 1,187 | $77K | 10.2% | 3.8% | 7% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 1% | 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 Clear Lake, 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 2024, 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 Clear Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Clear Lake?
$71,667 (±$32,977) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clear Lake?
14.0%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clear Lake?
30 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clear Lake work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mount Vernon (15%, 4 mi), Sedro-Woolley (11%, 4 mi), Burlington (8%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Clear Lake walkable?
Clear Lake is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 3.8 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clear Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clear Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clear Lake
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.