Photo: Sam Beebe · CC BY 2.0Households in Goldendale earn less than those in 96% of U.S. towns
At home: 4% of workers have no commute at all (Washington 20%). Below the poverty line: 29.7% of residents, next to 9.9% for Washington as a whole. The two grades for Goldendale are D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Goldendale, in a few figures
Few Goldendale workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 20% across Washington. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
39% 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 ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Goldendale
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Goldendale is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #284 of 285 in Washington. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Goldendale’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Goldendale could be anywhere from D− to D.
Getting to work from Goldendale takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Goldendale workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,134 commuters (the 4% 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 far it is to work from Goldendale
About 39% 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.
Goldendale by day and by night
On a workday 837 residents head out to work, 378 work right here, and 1,001 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 (1.13 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.
5% of working residents work in The Dalles
Where Goldendale clocks in
5% of workers
3% 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 work there is in Goldendale: 1,379 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Goldendale, 2013 → 2023: 1,515 → 1,379. 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 Goldendale’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Goldendale
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Goldendale is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #132 of 285 in Washington. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 9.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 8.9% across Washington, on an EPA index of 7.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,176 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 14.4% of Goldendale households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Goldendale’s commuters take a bus or train.
Goldendale next to U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Larch Way WA | 4,424 | $160K | 1.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Clearview WA | 3,254 | $193K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 115 | Medina WA | 2,974 | $250K | 4.7% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,341 | Oakridge OR | 3,127 | $40K | 23.9% | 18.2% | 24% | D− |
| 4,342 | Mattawa WA | 3,874 | $38K | 33.3% | 11.6% | 21% | D− |
| 4,343 | Goldendale WA | 3,528 | $40K | 29.7% | 14.0% | 31% | D− |
| 4,344 | Mills Township MI | 4,054 | $42K | 30.5% | 12.1% | 4% | D− |
| 4,345 | Whiteriver AZ | 4,545 | $37K | 42.2% | 9.7% | 57% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,355 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Goldendale, 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 Goldendale: questions
What is the median household income in Goldendale?
$39,783 (±$11,999) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Goldendale?
29.7%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Goldendale?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Goldendale work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are The Dalles (5%, 22 mi), Portland (5%, 90 mi), Seattle (3%, 144 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Goldendale walkable?
Goldendale is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.5 out of 20, and 9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Goldendale 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 Goldendale, from the people who make the trip.
More of Goldendale
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.