Florence Ferguson House · Photo: Marradez · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Colfax trail those of 71% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 4% of workers; Washington has 20%. Poverty touches 15.1% of residents, against 9.9% across Washington. The two grades for Colfax are C− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Colfax and work: the main findings
Commutes from Colfax are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Washington worker. Time on the road ↓
Colfax trades workers with the towns around it
Colfax has about as many jobs (1,259) as working residents (1,175), but they are mostly different people: 855 residents leave for work each day while 939 people come in. Only 25% of the jobs in Colfax are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Few Colfax workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 20% across Washington. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Colfax and Pullman trade workers both ways
Pullman is the top workplace for Colfax residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Colfax come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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.
The four measures behind Colfax’s grade
Unemployment holds Colfax’s grade up (4.1%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 7% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Colfax could be anywhere from D− to B.
Time on the road from Colfax: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Colfax workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,041 commuters (the 4% 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.
Who works in Colfax, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 855 residents head out to work, 320 work right here, and 939 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 (1.07 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.
31% of working residents work in Pullman
Where Colfax clocks in
3% 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.
The 1,259 jobs based in Colfax
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Colfax, 2013 → 2023: 1,135 → 1,259. 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 Colfax’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Colfax
About 22% 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.
Most trips from Colfax start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Colfax is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns, #195 of 285 in Washington. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, on an EPA index of 6.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,084 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). 5.1% of Colfax households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Colfax’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,600, Colfax ranks 3,725th of 4,797 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Clearview WA | 3,254 | $193K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 90 | Medina WA | 2,974 | $250K | 4.7% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | Cathcart WA | 2,064 | $130K | 3.2% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,723 | Bowdon GA | 2,298 | $65K | 18.4% | 2.7% | 6% | C− |
| 3,724 | Tilton IL | 2,537 | $56K | 17.3% | 5.9% | 6% | C− |
| 3,725 | Colfax WA | 2,667 | $62K | 15.1% | 4.1% | 27% | C− |
| 3,726 | Homedale ID | 3,138 | $62K | 16.8% | 5.6% | 12% | C− |
| 3,727 | Hume NY | 2,036 | $69K | 11.2% | 12.0% | 4% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,797 | 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 Colfax, 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 Colfax: questions
What is the median household income in Colfax?
$61,914 (±$17,063) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Colfax?
15.1%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Colfax?
17 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Colfax work?
27% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pullman (31%, 14 mi), Spokane (3%, 52 mi), Moscow (2%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Colfax walkable?
Colfax is more walkable than 58% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.0 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Colfax without a car?
0% 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 Colfax, from the people who make the trip.
More of Colfax
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.