Photo: Senior Airman Mary O'Dell · Public domainWork, pay and getting to work in Fairchild AFB
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 9.2 in Spokane. Fairchild AFB grades B+ for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. For 8% of workers, the job is at home, where Washington as a whole has 20%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Fairchild AFB and work: the main findings
A big share show a job far from home
53% 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 ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Fairchild AFB than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Fairchild AFB fell from 780 in 2014 to 281 in 2024, −64%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Fairchild AFB are quick
The average trip to work takes 10 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 130 hours a year less on the road than the typical Washington 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 384 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Fairchild AFB: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Fairchild AFB is better than 68% of U.S. towns, #121 of 285 in Washington. The poverty rate holds Fairchild AFB’s grade up (3.3%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($69,917, U.S. $80,734). It also does well on job access by car.
Unemployment (11.0%) is left out: Fairchild AFB’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Fairchild AFB could be anywhere from B to A−.
The commute from Fairchild AFB, by distance
About 53% 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.
What work there is in Fairchild AFB: 281 jobs
281 jobs are based in Fairchild AFB.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fairchild AFB, 2014 → 2024: 780 → 281. 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 Fairchild AFB’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Getting to work from Fairchild AFB takes about 10 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fairchild AFB workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,533 commuters (the 8% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Fairchild AFB
On a workday 374 residents head out to work, 10 work right here, and 271 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.
0.73 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 2024, primary jobs.
Where Fairchild AFB goes to work
Where Fairchild AFB clocks in
20% of workers
8% of workers
7% 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.
Fairchild AFB is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fairchild AFB is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns, #5 of 285 in Washington. Both inputs place Fairchild AFB 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 1,672 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, >99% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 77% 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). 0.0% of Fairchild AFB households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fairchild AFB’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Fairchild AFB is 1,307th of 4,618 U.S. towns of 2,100 to 4,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Clearview WA | 3,254 | $193K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Medina WA | 2,974 | $250K | 4.7% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 113 | Meadow Glade WA | 2,281 | $129K | 2.4% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,305 | Marietta-Alderwood WA | 3,754 | $76K | 7.9% | 2.6% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,306 | Paint Township OH | 3,498 | $86K | 17.5% | 0.0% | 13% | B+ |
| 1,307 | Fairchild AFB WA | 2,931 | $70K | 3.3% | 11.0% | 3% | B+ |
| 1,308 | Lima NY | 2,115 | $69K | 6.0% | 5.3% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,309 | Sugarcreek OH | 2,334 | $72K | 1.4% | 4.4% | 14% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,618 | 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 Fairchild AFB, 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 Fairchild AFB: questions
What is the median household income in Fairchild AFB?
$69,917 (±$5,735) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fairchild AFB?
3.3%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fairchild AFB?
10 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fairchild AFB work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Spokane (20%, 11 mi), Seattle (8%, 219 mi), Spokane Valley (7%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fairchild AFB walkable?
Fairchild AFB is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.1 out of 20, and 17% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fairchild AFB without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. >99% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fairchild AFB, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fairchild AFB
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.