Photo: Ruthven78 · CC BY-SA 3.0How Metaline Falls works: jobs, income and commuting
Only 6% work in Metaline Falls; the top destination outside it is Spokane Valley (7%, 83 miles). The trip to work takes 14 minutes on average; Washington averages 27, the U.S. 26. Metaline Falls has 114 jobs; 83 of its residents have a job.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How many people are in Metaline Falls by day
On a workday 78 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 109 people come in from elsewhere.
About 310 people are in Metaline Falls on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.37 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The places Metaline Falls commutes to
Where Metaline Falls clocks in
7% of workers
7% of workers
4% 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.
In Metaline Falls, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Metaline Falls, 2014 → 2024: 72 → 114. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Metaline Falls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Metaline Falls: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Metaline Falls workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 77 commuters (the 21% 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.
How many miles Metaline Falls commutes
About 64% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Metaline Falls: questions
What is the median household income in Metaline Falls?
$46,500 (±$19,965) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Metaline Falls?
5.3%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Metaline Falls?
14 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 21% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Metaline Falls work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Spokane Valley (7%, 83 mi), Spokane (7%, 83 mi), Ione (4%, 9 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Metaline Falls without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 16% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Metaline Falls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Metaline Falls
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.