Fords Prairie’s household incomes are lower than in 80% of U.S. towns
Fords Prairie grades C− for jobs and income and C− for walkability. The poverty rate is 15.7%; Washington has 9.9%. For 2% of workers, the job is at home (Washington 20%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Fords Prairie apart on work
Jobs in Fords Prairie have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Fords Prairie went from 543 in 2014 to 1,181 in 2024, +117%. The jobs ↓
Fords Prairie and Centralia trade workers both ways
Centralia is the top workplace for Fords Prairie residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Fords Prairie come from (16% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
54% of the jobs in Fords Prairie are in trade, transport and utilities, against 24% of the jobs its residents hold. 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 906 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Jobs & income in Fords Prairie: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Fords Prairie is better than 22% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Fords Prairie’s grade up (ahead of 46% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($55,608, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (3.4%) is left out: Fords Prairie’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, Fords Prairie could be anywhere from D to B.
Factories, building and farms: 39% of the jobs in Fords Prairie
1,181 jobs are based in Fords Prairie.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fords Prairie, 2014 → 2024: 543 → 1,181. 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 Fords Prairie’s own residents hold wherever they work.
18% of working residents work in Centralia
Where Fords Prairie clocks in
18% of workers
10% 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.
How a workday changes Fords Prairie
On a workday 878 residents head out to work, 28 work right here, and 1,153 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Fords Prairie on a workday afternoon, 15% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.30 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.
Each way, about 19 minutes from Fords Prairie
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fords Prairie workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 779 commuters (the 2% 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.
Half of Fords Prairie commutes less than 21 miles
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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Few in Fords Prairie walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fords Prairie is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 8.9% across Washington.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 798 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). 5.1% of Fords Prairie households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fords Prairie’s commuters take a bus or train.
3,913th of 5,656: where Fords Prairie ranks among U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Woodway WA | 1,316 | $205K | 2.1% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Fife Heights WA | 1,446 | $157K | 2.4% | 4.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | McMillin WA | 1,348 | $141K | 2.3% | 4.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,911 | Connellsville Township PA | 2,008 | $55K | 18.8% | 13.6% | 3% | C− |
| 3,912 | Keystone Heights FL | 1,579 | $80K | 18.2% | 4.4% | 4% | C− |
| 3,913 | Fords Prairie WA | 1,823 | $56K | 15.7% | 3.4% | 3% | C− |
| 3,914 | Porterdale GA | 1,913 | $50K | 25.6% | 3.6% | <1% | C− |
| 3,915 | Mayville NY | 1,474 | $69K | 14.6% | 8.2% | 17% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Fords Prairie, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
The towns next door employ 20% of Fords Prairie
The biggest share goes to Centralia (18%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fords Prairie workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fords Prairie | – | C− | C− | 19 min | $55,608 |
| Centralia | 18% | C− | A− | 26 min | $56,219 |
| Grand Mound | 2% | B− | B− | 27 min | $72,426 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fords Prairie’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 Fords Prairie: questions
What is the median household income in Fords Prairie?
$55,608 (±$29,180) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fords Prairie?
15.7%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fords Prairie?
19 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fords Prairie work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Centralia (18%, 2 mi), Chehalis (10%, 6 mi), Olympia (7%, 21 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fords Prairie walkable?
Fords Prairie is more walkable than 20% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.7 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fords Prairie without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fords Prairie, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fords Prairie
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.