Photo: Ian Poellet (User:Werewombat) · CC BY-SA 3.0At 6.6%, unemployment in Kelso is higher than in 79% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 94.7 in Seattle. The two grades for Kelso are C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. For 6% 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
Work in Kelso, in a few figures
Kelso trades workers with the towns around it
Kelso has about as many jobs (5,581) as working residents (6,048), but they are mostly different people: 5,315 residents leave for work each day while 4,848 people come in. Only 13% of the jobs in Kelso are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Kelso and Longview trade workers both ways
Longview is the top workplace for Kelso residents (22%) and also where the most people who work in Kelso come from (24% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Kelso are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Washington worker. 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.
Why Kelso gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kelso is better than 30% of U.S. towns, #240 of 285 in Washington. Job access by car holds Kelso’s grade up (ahead of 47% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kelso could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Kelso on a workday afternoon
On a workday 5,315 residents head out to work, 733 work right here, and 4,848 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 (0.92 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.
22% of working residents work in Longview
Where Kelso clocks in
22% of workers
8% 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.
About 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of Washington
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kelso workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,651 commuters (the 6% 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.
Making and building: 33% of jobs based in Kelso
5,581 jobs are based in Kelso.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kelso, 2013 → 2023: 5,069 → 5,581. 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 Kelso’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Near or far: the trip to work from Kelso
About 28% 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.
In Kelso, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kelso is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #115 of 285 in Washington. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.0% of 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 5,986 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 91% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 71% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 78% 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). 5.7% of Kelso households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Kelso’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Kelso ranks: 1,861st of 2,354 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 17,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Maltby WA | 10,910 | $185K | 3.9% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | Bothell East WA | 14,578 | $199K | 3.6% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 131 | Snoqualmie WA | 13,640 | $214K | 0.8% | 2.6% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,859 | Booneville MS | 9,257 | $51K | 15.1% | 3.2% | 33% | C |
| 1,860 | Bellefontaine Neighbors MO | 10,368 | $49K | 21.4% | 5.9% | 2% | C |
| 1,861 | Kelso WA | 12,801 | $67K | 12.0% | 6.6% | 12% | C |
| 1,862 | South Charleston WV | 13,072 | $64K | 16.9% | 7.0% | 16% | C |
| 1,863 | St. Albans WV | 10,210 | $54K | 14.1% | 5.4% | 8% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,354 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Kelso, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
Kelso and its neighbors: 22% work next door
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Longview. Darker towns draw more of Kelso’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 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 Kelso: questions
What is the median household income in Kelso?
$66,751 (±$5,488) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kelso?
12.0%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kelso?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kelso work?
12% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Longview (22%, 4 mi), Vancouver (8%, 36 mi), Portland (5%, 42 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kelso walkable?
Kelso is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 13.5 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kelso without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 71% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kelso, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kelso
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.