Photo: formulanone from Huntsville, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0Kennewick has higher unemployment (5.1%) than 63% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 3.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 94.7 in Seattle. Jobs and income earn Kennewick C+; getting around on foot earns it A−. Working from home is the commute for 10% of workers, against 20% across Washington.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Kennewick stands out on work
A lot of Kennewick works one town over
36% of working residents work in a town that borders Kennewick: Richland (22%), Pasco (13%) and Finley (1%). Next door ↓
Kennewick trades workers with the towns around it
Kennewick has about as many jobs (33,289) as working residents (34,251), but they are mostly different people: 24,288 residents leave for work each day while 23,326 people come in. Only 30% of the jobs in Kennewick are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Most Kennewick residents work close to home
64% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
Commutes from Kennewick 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.
The four measures behind Kennewick’s grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Kennewick is better than 42% of U.S. towns, #213 of 285 in Washington. Job access by car holds Kennewick’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (14.3%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Kennewick could be anywhere from C to B−.
Kennewick on a workday afternoon
On a workday 24,288 residents head out to work, 9,963 work right here, and 23,326 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 (0.97 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.
How far Kennewick’s workers travel
About 19% 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.
The trip to work from Kennewick: about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Kennewick workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 33,183 commuters (the 10% 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.
22% of working residents work in Richland
Where Kennewick clocks in
22% of workers
13% of workers
2% 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.
Inside Kennewick’s 33,289 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Kennewick, 2013 → 2023: 27,515 → 33,289. 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 Kennewick’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Good to walk, short on transit: Kennewick
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Kennewick is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #118 of 285 in Washington. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.1% 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 36,738 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 94% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 27% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 77% 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). 8.9% of Kennewick households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Kennewick’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Kennewick is 387th of 507 U.S. towns of 62,000 to 119,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 27 | Sammamish WA | 66,110 | $240K | 4.3% | 3.1% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 83 | Kirkland WA | 97,410 | $150K | 6.1% | 4.6% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Redmond WA | 82,506 | $163K | 5.6% | 4.9% | 32% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 385 | Deerfield Beach FL | 89,339 | $60K | 15.1% | 5.4% | 12% | C+ |
| 386 | Westland MI | 82,333 | $62K | 14.3% | 6.0% | 6% | C+ |
| 387 | Kennewick WA | 88,366 | $74K | 14.3% | 5.1% | 29% | C+ |
| 388 | Arden-Arcade CA | 94,994 | $77K | 16.9% | 8.6% | 9% | C+ |
| 389 | Melbourne FL | 87,097 | $67K | 15.8% | 4.6% | 28% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 507 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Kennewick, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
Kennewick and its neighbors: 36% work next door
The biggest share goes to Richland (22%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Kennewick’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 Kennewick: questions
What is the median household income in Kennewick?
$73,576 (±$3,038) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Kennewick?
14.3%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Kennewick?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Kennewick work?
29% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richland (22%, 8 mi), Pasco (13%, 5 mi), Seattle (2%, 179 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Kennewick walkable?
Kennewick is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 12.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Kennewick without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 27% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Kennewick, from the people who make the trip.
More of Kennewick
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.