R. C. McCroskey House · Photo: Kelly Walters · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Garfield commutes out: there are 0.5 jobs for every working resident
Employers in Garfield report 106 jobs, against 223 working residents. Only 4% stay in Garfield for work; outside it, Pullman is the main destination (30%, 19 miles). For 0% of workers, the job is at home, where Washington as a whole has 20%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Garfield and work: the main findings
30% of Garfield works in Pullman
66 working residents, 30%, have their main job in Pullman, 19 miles away. That’s 8 times as many as work in Garfield itself. The commute map ↓
Few Garfield workers work from home
Only 0% 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 223 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Garfield’s working residents head each day
Where Garfield clocks in
Lines 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.
Garfield’s commute takes about 27 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Garfield workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 169 commuters (the 0% 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.
Garfield on a workday afternoon
On a workday 215 residents head out to work, 8 work right here, and 98 people come in from elsewhere.
About 430 people are in Garfield on a workday afternoon, 22% 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 2023, primary jobs.
What Garfield’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Garfield, 2013 → 2023: 87 → 106. 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 Garfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Garfield
About 20% 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.
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 Garfield: questions
What is the median household income in Garfield?
$70,625 (±$28,915) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Garfield?
17.2%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Garfield?
27 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Garfield work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pullman (30%, 19 mi), Colfax (9%, 11 mi), Palouse (5%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Garfield without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 14% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Garfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Garfield
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.