Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0Clear Lake has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.1 for each
Hardly any stay in Clear Lake for work; outside it, Seattle is the main destination (11%, 48 miles). There are 56 jobs in Clear Lake, and 655 of its residents work somewhere. For jobs and income Clear Lake is better than 60% of U.S. towns (B); for walkability it is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (B).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Clear Lake apart
Clear Lake’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Clear Lake is Seattle, 48 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (74) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Clear Lake is a place people come home to
There are 56 jobs based in Clear Lake, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Clear Lake has about 670 people in it, 47% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Clear Lake workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 36 minutes each way, against 27 across Washington. Over a year that’s about 276 hours of commuting, 69 more than the state’s typical worker. 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 655 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Clear Lake’s Jobs & income grade
Household income holds Clear Lake’s grade up ($95,882, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 26% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (6.6%) 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 A.
How far Clear Lake goes to work
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.
A workday in Clear Lake: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 651 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 52 people come in from elsewhere.
About 670 people are in Clear Lake on a workday afternoon, 47% 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.
How long Clear Lake spends getting to work: about 36 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.4 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 398 commuters (the 22% 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.
Where people from Clear Lake work
Where Clear Lake clocks in
11% 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.
In Clear Lake, 29% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clear Lake, 2014 → 2024: 39 → 56. 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.
Getting around Clear Lake: mostly by car
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 19.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, on an EPA index of 4.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 510 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). 17.1% 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.
Clear Lake is 1,212th of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Yarrow Point WA | 1,143 | $250K | 4.5% | 2.2% | <1% | A+ |
| 21 | Woodway WA | 1,316 | $205K | 2.1% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Fife Heights WA | 1,446 | $157K | 2.4% | 4.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,210 | Lamar TX | 1,202 | $87K | 4.8% | 1.9% | 4% | B |
| 1,211 | Duluth WA | 1,656 | $92K | 14.6% | 0.0% | 1% | B |
| 1,212 | Clear Lake WA | 1,271 | $96K | 6.6% | 6.6% | 1% | B |
| 1,213 | Union Springs NY | 1,057 | $81K | 4.4% | 4.1% | 9% | B |
| 1,214 | Albion Township MN | 1,279 | $101K | 8.7% | 4.8% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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.
Work in the towns next to Clear Lake
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Clear Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clear Lake | – | B | B | 36 min | $95,882 |
| Kapowsin | under 3% | — | — | 45 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Kapowsin: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Clear Lake’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 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?
$95,882 (±$67,343) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clear Lake?
6.6%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clear Lake?
36 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clear Lake work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Seattle (11%, 48 mi), Tacoma (10%, 24 mi), Puyallup (5%, 17 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Clear Lake walkable?
Clear Lake is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 4.2 out of 20, and 19% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clear Lake without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 17% 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.