Glencove Hotel · Photo: garann · CC BY-SA 2.0Key Center has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Jobs and income earn Key Center B−; getting around on foot earns it C. Key Center has 527 jobs for 1,341 working residents. Household incomes here are higher than in 81% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Key Center
Key Center workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 36 minutes each way, against 27 across Washington. Over a year that’s about 276 hours of commuting, 69 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Key Center
70% of Key Center residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 46% of the jobs based in Key Center pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 97% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
Key Center has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Key Center went from 352 in 2013 to 527 in 2023, +50%. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Key Center’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Key Center is better than 47% of U.S. towns, #203 of 285 in Washington. Household income holds Key Center’s grade up ($105,781, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (6.2%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Key Center could be anywhere from C to A.
Time on the road from Key Center: about 36 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Key Center workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,412 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.
What Key Center’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Key Center, 2013 → 2023: 352 → 527. 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 Key Center’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Key Center by day and by night
On a workday 1,299 residents head out to work, 42 work right here, and 485 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Key Center on a workday afternoon, 23% 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.
13% of working residents work in Tacoma
Where Key Center clocks in
13% 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.
How far it is to work from Key Center
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 Key Center, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Key Center is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns, #248 of 285 in Washington. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.7% 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 1,576 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 2.4% of Key Center households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Key Center’s commuters take a bus or train.
Key Center is 2,311th of 4,355 U.S. towns of 2,500 to 4,800 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,309 | North Baltimore OH | 3,409 | $60K | 14.0% | 2.4% | 12% | B− |
| 2,310 | Farm Loop AK | 2,894 | $119K | 5.7% | 7.3% | — | B− |
| 2,311 | Key Center WA | 3,544 | $106K | 7.7% | 6.2% | 3% | B− |
| 2,312 | Jena LA | 4,229 | $72K | 11.3% | 1.6% | 26% | B− |
| 2,313 | Cuba NY | 3,065 | $76K | 12.2% | 2.4% | 22% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Key Center, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
Next door to Key Center
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Key Center workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Key Center | – | B− | C | 36 min | $105,781 |
| Home | under 2% | C | D | 50 min | $64,884 |
| Stansberry Lake | under 2% | A− | D− | 44 min | $90,917 |
| Wauna | under 2% | A− | C+ | 29 min | $103,250 |
| Vaughn | under 2% | — | — | 37 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Vaughn: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Key Center’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 Key Center: questions
What is the median household income in Key Center?
$105,781 (±$11,234) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Key Center?
7.7%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Key Center?
36 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Key Center work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tacoma (13%, 14 mi), Seattle (13%, 27 mi), Gig Harbor (8%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Key Center walkable?
Key Center is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 6.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Key Center without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Key Center, from the people who make the trip.
More of Key Center
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.