Photo: ECTran71 · CC BY-SA 4.0Work, pay and getting to work in Moses Lake
The two grades for Moses Lake are C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. For 7% of workers, the job is at home, where Washington as a whole has 20%. About two in five work in Moses Lake; the top destination outside it is Moses Lake North (5%, 5 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Moses Lake, in brief
Commutes from Moses Lake are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Washington worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
33% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Why Moses Lake gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Moses Lake is better than 32% of U.S. towns, #233 of 285 in Washington. Household income holds Moses Lake’s grade up ($74,752, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.8%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Moses Lake could be anywhere from C− to B−.
Commuting from Moses Lake: about 18 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Moses Lake workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,113 commuters (the 7% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Moses Lake
About 33% 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.
Moses Lake by day and by night
On a workday 6,415 residents head out to work, 4,143 work right here, and 9,307 people come in from elsewhere.
About 30,000 people are in Moses Lake on a workday afternoon, 11% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.27 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.
Where Moses Lake goes to work
Where Moses Lake clocks in
4% of workers
3% 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.
Jobs in Moses Lake: what the 13,450 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Moses Lake, 2014 → 2024: 10,660 → 13,450. 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 Moses Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most of Moses Lake commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Moses Lake is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns, #158 of 285 in Washington. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.6% 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 11,968 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 21% 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 0.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 49% 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). 9.5% of Moses Lake households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Moses Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 1,509 U.S. towns of 19,000 to 37,000, Moses Lake comes 1,250th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 33 | Mercer Island WA | 25,422 | $219K | 3.8% | 3.0% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Bothell West WA | 22,029 | $153K | 3.0% | 2.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 164 | Cottage Lake WA | 22,518 | $213K | 3.2% | 4.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,248 | Stevens Point WI | 26,377 | $58K | 16.6% | 4.4% | 40% | C |
| 1,249 | Grandview MO | 26,653 | $53K | 17.9% | 6.2% | 9% | C |
| 1,250 | Moses Lake WA | 27,469 | $75K | 15.8% | 4.6% | 39% | C |
| 1,251 | Egypt Lake-Leto FL | 35,873 | $54K | 16.7% | 7.1% | 5% | C |
| 1,252 | Sebastian FL | 27,352 | $69K | 10.1% | 7.2% | 9% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,509 | Nogales AZ | 19,495 | $43K | 28.0% | 15.7% | 35% | 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 Moses Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
The towns around Moses Lake
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Moses Lake workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moses Lake | – | C | B+ | 18 min | $74,752 |
| Cascade Valley | under 2% | C− | A− | 22 min | $60,715 |
| Moses Lake North | 5% | D | C+ | 20 min | $57,602 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Moses Lake North. Darker towns draw more of Moses Lake’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 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 Moses Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Moses Lake?
$74,752 (±$5,947) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Moses Lake?
15.8%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Moses Lake?
18 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Moses Lake work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Moses Lake North (5%, 5 mi), Ephrata (4%, 18 mi), Wenatchee (3%, 54 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Moses Lake walkable?
Moses Lake is more walkable than 74% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Moses Lake without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Moses Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Moses Lake
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. 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.