Photo: Jelson25 · Public domainAt 2.7%, unemployment in Friday Harbor is lower than in 75% of U.S. towns
About two in five work in Friday Harbor itself; outside it, Seattle draws the most (6%, 70 miles). The two grades for Friday Harbor are C+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 3.8 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 94.7 in Seattle.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Friday Harbor apart
Inside Friday Harbor’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Friday Harbor is better than 41% of U.S. towns, #219 of 285 in Washington. Unemployment holds Friday Harbor’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 7% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Friday Harbor could be anywhere from C− to B.
Time on the road from Friday Harbor: about 10 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Friday Harbor workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,255 commuters (the 12% 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.
How many people are in Friday Harbor by day
On a workday 660 residents head out to work, 532 work right here, and 1,192 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,300 people are in Friday Harbor on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.45 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The places Friday Harbor commutes to
Where Friday Harbor clocks in
6% of workers
5% 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.
What the 1,724 jobs in Friday Harbor are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Friday Harbor, 2013 → 2023: 1,746 → 1,724. 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 Friday Harbor’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Friday Harbor’s workers travel
About 22% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Friday Harbor
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Friday Harbor is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns, #64 of 285 in Washington. Both inputs place Friday Harbor 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 1,434 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 33% 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 3.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 79% 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). 9.5% of Friday Harbor households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Friday Harbor’s commuters take a bus or train.
Friday Harbor places 2,811th of 4,969 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,700
| # | 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% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Clearview WA | 3,254 | $193K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 94 | Medina WA | 2,974 | $250K | 4.7% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 104 | Cathcart WA | 2,064 | $130K | 3.2% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,809 | Rockwell Place TX | 2,016 | $57K | 10.2% | 0.0% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,810 | Morton MS | 3,694 | $42K | 16.1% | 0.3% | 26% | C+ |
| 2,811 | Friday Harbor WA | 2,729 | $80K | 12.8% | 2.7% | 45% | C+ |
| 2,812 | Sand Creek Township IN | 2,332 | $72K | 13.1% | 4.3% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,813 | Merrimac VA | 2,733 | $54K | 12.6% | 3.2% | 1% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,969 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Friday Harbor, 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 Friday Harbor: questions
What is the median household income in Friday Harbor?
$80,378 (±$11,068) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Friday Harbor?
12.8%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Friday Harbor?
10 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Friday Harbor work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Seattle (6%, 70 mi), Bellingham (5%, 29 mi), Roche Harbor (2%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Friday Harbor walkable?
Friday Harbor is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.6 out of 20, and 11% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Friday Harbor without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Friday Harbor, from the people who make the trip.
More of Friday Harbor
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.