McCleary Hotel, Old · Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 3.0McCleary has higher unemployment (11.2%) than 96% of U.S. towns
Only 4% work in McCleary; the top destination outside it is Olympia (13%, 18 miles). Jobs and income earn McCleary C; getting around on foot earns it A. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.9 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 94.7 in Seattle.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets McCleary apart on work
Income, poverty and work: McCleary’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, McCleary is better than 28% of U.S. towns. Household income holds McCleary’s grade up ($77,813, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, McCleary could be anywhere from C− to B−.
A place that makes things: 57% of McCleary’s jobs are in goods
525 jobs are based in McCleary.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in McCleary, 2013 → 2023: 421 → 525. 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 McCleary’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In and out of McCleary on a workday
On a workday 903 residents head out to work, 42 work right here, and 483 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in McCleary on a workday afternoon, 20% fewer than live here.
0.56 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.
The places McCleary commutes to
Where McCleary clocks in
13% of workers
7% of workers
6% 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 30 minutes each way, longer than most of Washington
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of McCleary workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 753 commuters (the 15% 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.
Miles to work from McCleary
About 29% 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.
McCleary is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, McCleary is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.9% 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 891 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, 94% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 67% 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). 3.6% of McCleary households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of McCleary’s commuters take a bus or train.
McCleary next to U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,800: 3,752nd of 5,793 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | Monroe North WA | 1,456 | $170K | 0.8% | 3.7% | <1% | A+ |
| 111 | Cathcart WA | 2,064 | $130K | 3.2% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,750 | Reidsville GA | 2,576 | $42K | 15.1% | 2.5% | 12% | C |
| 3,751 | Mayodan NC | 2,503 | $38K | 22.8% | 2.2% | 7% | C |
| 3,752 | McCleary WA | 2,053 | $78K | 10.4% | 11.2% | 4% | C |
| 3,753 | Marmet WV | 1,416 | $52K | 13.6% | 12.1% | 2% | C |
| 3,754 | Antwerp NY | 1,641 | $74K | 9.7% | 7.2% | 1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 5,793 | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of McCleary, 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 McCleary: questions
What is the median household income in McCleary?
$77,813 (±$10,412) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in McCleary?
10.4%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from McCleary?
30 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in McCleary work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Olympia (13%, 18 mi), Tumwater (7%, 17 mi), Seattle (6%, 58 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is McCleary walkable?
McCleary is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 13.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around McCleary without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 94% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from McCleary, from the people who make the trip.
More of McCleary
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.