Hanford B Reactor · Photo: Billatq · CC BY-SA 4.0Desert Aire has 0.2 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Working from home is the commute for 4% of workers, against 20% across Washington. 146 jobs are based in Desert Aire for 706 working residents. Jobs and income earn Desert Aire C+; getting around on foot earns it D−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Desert Aire in brief
Desert Aire is a place people come home to
There are 146 jobs based in Desert Aire, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
Desert Aire and Mattawa trade workers both ways
Mattawa is the top workplace for Desert Aire residents (17%) and also where the most people who work in Desert Aire come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Few Desert Aire 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 ↓
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 706 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Desert Aire gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Desert Aire is better than 43% of U.S. towns, #211 of 285 in Washington. Household income holds Desert Aire’s grade up ($85,960, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Desert Aire could be anywhere from D to A−.
The daily commute in and out of Desert Aire
On a workday 677 residents head out to work, 29 work right here, and 117 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Desert Aire on a workday afternoon, 20% 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.
17% of working residents work in Mattawa
Where Desert Aire clocks in
17% of workers
4% of workers
4% 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.
About 19 minutes each way, quicker than most of Washington
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Desert Aire workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,153 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.
54% of the jobs in Desert Aire make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Desert Aire, 2014 → 2024: 146 → 146. 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 Desert Aire’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Desert Aire commutes
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.
Desert Aire is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Desert Aire is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #285 of 285 in Washington. Both inputs place Desert Aire 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 1,197 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). 12.9% of Desert Aire households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Desert Aire’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Desert Aire ranks: 2,601st of 4,703 U.S. towns of 2,000 to 3,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 24 | Clearview WA | 3,254 | $193K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Medina WA | 2,974 | $250K | 4.7% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 106 | Cathcart WA | 2,064 | $130K | 3.2% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,599 | Sutter CA | 2,532 | $96K | 6.8% | 7.7% | 5% | C+ |
| 2,600 | Fairmont IL | 2,617 | $71K | 15.6% | 7.1% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,601 | Desert Aire WA | 2,788 | $86K | 7.8% | 4.5% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,602 | Castle Rock WA | 2,442 | $70K | 7.0% | 7.6% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,603 | Winslow Township PA | 2,487 | $68K | 17.6% | 0.7% | 4% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,703 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 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 Desert Aire, 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 Desert Aire: questions
What is the median household income in Desert Aire?
$85,960 (±$28,507) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Desert Aire?
7.8%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Desert Aire?
19 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Desert Aire work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mattawa (17%, 3 mi), Othello (4%, 37 mi), Ephrata (4%, 47 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Desert Aire walkable?
Desert Aire is near the bottom of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 2.5 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Desert Aire without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Desert Aire, from the people who make the trip.
More of Desert Aire
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.