Photo: Orange Suede Sofa · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Mabton (10.7%) is higher than in 95% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D: better than 5% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access.
Walkability B+: more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are lower than in 79% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 30 minutes each way (Washington 27, U.S. 26). Only 3% work in Mabton; the top destination outside it is Sunnyside (13%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Mabton
Fewer jobs are based in Mabton than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Mabton fell from 453 in 2013 to 277 in 2023, −39%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Few Mabton workers work from home
Only 2% 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 460 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Mabton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mabton is better than 5% of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Mabton’s grade up (ahead of 24% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (10.7%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mabton could be anywhere from D− to C.
What the 277 jobs in Mabton are
277 jobs are based in Mabton. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Mabton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mabton, 2013 → 2023: 453 → 277. 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.
About 30 minutes each way, longer than most of Washington
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mabton workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 851 commuters (the 2% who work from home are left out). Across Washington: 79% drive alone, 4% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 446 residents head out to work, 14 work right here, and 263 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.
0.60 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
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 Sunnyside
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Mabton clocks in
13% of workers
9% of workers
8% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Half of Mabton commutes less than 23 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 22% 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.
Most trips from Mabton start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mabton is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.8% 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 872 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 90% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 90% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.0 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). 4.3% of Mabton households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mabton’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Mabton compares with U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Mabton, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Fife Heights WA | 1,446 | $157K | 2.4% | 4.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | Monroe North WA | 1,456 | $170K | 0.8% | 3.7% | <1% | A+ |
| 109 | Cathcart WA | 2,064 | $130K | 3.2% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,028 | Morrisville NY | 1,795 | $50K | 19.6% | 7.2% | 8% | D |
| 5,029 | Decatur TN | 1,637 | $43K | 34.3% | 23.1% | 18% | D |
| 5,030 | Mabton WA | 1,967 | $57K | 27.8% | 10.7% | 3% | D |
| 5,031 | Hurley WI | 1,617 | $47K | 14.6% | 3.0% | 29% | D |
| 5,032 | Wano Township KS | 1,737 | $54K | 16.5% | 2.4% | 46% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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.
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 Mabton: questions
What is the median household income in Mabton?
$56,875 (±$24,475) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mabton?
27.8%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mabton?
30 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mabton work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Sunnyside (13%, 7 mi), Grandview (9%, 5 mi), Yakima (8%, 37 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mabton walkable?
Mabton is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 12.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mabton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 90% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mabton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mabton
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.