Photo: Jake_T53 · CC BY-SA 3.0Darrington has lower household incomes than 64% of U.S. towns
19.4% of residents live below the poverty line, against 9.9% across Washington. The two grades for Darrington are D for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 5% of workers have no commute at all, next to 20% for Washington as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Darrington: the gist
Darrington’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Darrington is Seattle, 56 miles away as the crow flies. 10% of working residents (58) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. 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; with 580 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Darrington’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Darrington is better than 8% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Darrington’s grade up ($66,488, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (10.8%) is left out: Darrington’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, Darrington could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Short hops and long hauls from Darrington
About 30% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Darrington
On a workday 517 residents head out to work, 63 work right here, and 300 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,300 people are in Darrington on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.63 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
10% of working residents work in Seattle
Where Darrington clocks in
10% of workers
10% of workers
9% 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 kinds of work in Darrington
363 jobs are based in Darrington.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Darrington, 2013 → 2023: 212 → 363. 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 Darrington’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Darrington: about 24 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Darrington workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 508 commuters (the 5% 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.
Driving is how Darrington gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Darrington is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, on an EPA index of 5.6.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 537 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 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 53% 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). 8.3% of Darrington households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 7% of Darrington’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,000, Darrington ranks 4,619th of 5,397 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 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 20 | Yarrow Point WA | 1,143 | $250K | 4.5% | 2.2% | 0% | A+ |
| 21 | Woodway WA | 1,316 | $205K | 2.1% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Fife Heights WA | 1,446 | $157K | 2.4% | 4.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,617 | Norwood NY | 1,521 | $54K | 17.2% | 8.4% | 2% | D |
| 4,618 | Franklin TX | 1,805 | $54K | 24.6% | 6.7% | 14% | D |
| 4,619 | Darrington WA | 1,500 | $66K | 19.4% | 10.8% | 11% | D |
| 4,620 | Baileyville ME | 1,314 | $60K | 15.8% | 10.8% | 30% | D |
| 4,621 | Caseville Township MI | 1,636 | $59K | 15.6% | 2.5% | 7% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,397 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 0% | 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 Darrington, 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 Darrington: questions
What is the median household income in Darrington?
$66,488 (±$35,385) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Darrington?
19.4%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Darrington?
24 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Darrington work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Seattle (10%, 56 mi), Everett (10%, 34 mi), Arlington (9%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Darrington walkable?
Darrington is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Darrington without a car?
7% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Darrington, from the people who make the trip.
More of Darrington
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.