Household incomes in Fife Heights are higher than in 96% of U.S. towns
Hardly any work in Fife Heights itself; outside it, Seattle draws the most (14%, 25 miles). Below the poverty line: 2.4% of residents, next to 9.9% across Washington. The two grades for Fife Heights are A+ for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Fife Heights: the figures worth knowing
Fife Heights’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Fife Heights is Seattle, 25 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (117) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Fife Heights than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Fife Heights fell from 1,292 in 2014 to 963 in 2024, −25%. 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 ↓
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 861 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Fife Heights
On income, poverty and job access, Fife Heights is among the top U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Fife Heights’ grade. It also does well on the poverty rate and job access by car.
Unemployment (4.5%) is left out: Fife Heights’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Fife Heights stays A+.
The distance from Fife Heights 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.
Fife Heights is a services town
963 jobs are based in Fife Heights.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fife Heights, 2014 → 2024: 1,292 → 963. 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 Fife Heights’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Fife Heights on a workday afternoon
On a workday 855 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 957 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 (1.12 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The places Fife Heights commutes to
Where Fife Heights clocks in
14% 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 daily trip from Fife Heights: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fife Heights workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 677 commuters (the 15% 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.
Few in Fife Heights walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fife Heights is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Fife Heights 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 801 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 5.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 85% 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). 0.8% of Fife Heights households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fife Heights’ commuters take a bus or train.
45th of 6,308: where Fife Heights ranks among U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Yarrow Point WA | 1,143 | $250K | 4.5% | 2.2% | <1% | A+ |
| 28 | Woodway WA | 1,316 | $205K | 2.1% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 43 | Southside Place TX | 1,916 | $163K | 5.0% | 5.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 44 | Shoreacres TX | 1,535 | $131K | 3.2% | 2.2% | 1% | A+ |
| 45 | Fife Heights WA | 1,446 | $157K | 2.4% | 4.5% | 1% | A+ |
| 46 | Ames Lake WA | 1,245 | $250K | 1.1% | 3.1% | <1% | A+ |
| 47 | Bannockburn IL | 1,308 | $214K | 5.1% | 1.8% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | McMillin WA | 1,348 | $141K | 2.3% | 4.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | 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 Fife Heights, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
Fife Heights and its neighbors: 19% work next door
The biggest share goes to Tacoma (12%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fife Heights workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fife Heights | – | A+ | C+ | 25 min | $157,292 |
| Fife | 7% | B | A− | 27 min | $90,532 |
| Milton | under 4% | B+ | A | 30 min | $96,540 |
| Tacoma | 12% | B | A+ | 29 min | $85,884 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fife Heights’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 Fife Heights: questions
What is the median household income in Fife Heights?
$157,292 (±$25,319) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fife Heights?
2.4%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fife Heights?
25 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fife Heights work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Seattle (14%, 25 mi), Tacoma (12%, 5 mi), Fife (7%, 2 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fife Heights walkable?
Fife Heights is more walkable than 40% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fife Heights without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fife Heights, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fife Heights
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.