Photo: Steven Baltakatei Sandoval · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.3 jobs for every working resident, most of Orchards works elsewhere
The two grades for Orchards are B for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. 4,711 jobs are based in Orchards, against 13,550 working residents. Measured by household income, Orchards is ahead of 77% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Orchards in brief
A lot of Orchards workers cross into Oregon
26% of Orchards workers work outside Washington, the Census survey finds. In the commute data, Portland (17%) and Gresham (1%) are among the top workplaces. The commute map ↓
Orchards and Vancouver trade workers both ways
Vancouver is the top workplace for Orchards residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Orchards come from (21% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Orchards has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Orchards went from 3,340 in 2013 to 4,711 in 2023, +41%. 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.
The four measures behind Orchards’ grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Orchards is better than 62% of U.S. towns, #149 of 285 in Washington. Job access by car holds Orchards’ grade up (ahead of 78% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (5.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Orchards could be anywhere from B− to A−.
31% of working residents work in Vancouver
Where Orchards clocks in
31% 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.
Orchards works in goods: 31% of its jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Orchards, 2013 → 2023: 3,340 → 4,711. 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 Orchards’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who works in Orchards, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 13,170 residents head out to work, 380 work right here, and 4,331 people come in from elsewhere.
About 21,000 people are in Orchards on a workday afternoon, 30% 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.
Orchards’ commute takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Orchards workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,172 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Orchards
About 18% 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.
Orchards is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Orchards is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #177 of 285 in Washington. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% 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 14,351 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, 8% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 4.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 81% 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). 3.4% of Orchards households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Orchards’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Orchards is 764th among 1,366 U.S. towns of 21,000 to 40,000
| # | 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 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 30 | Mercer Island WA | 25,422 | $219K | 3.8% | 3.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Bothell West WA | 22,029 | $153K | 3.0% | 2.9% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 141 | Issaquah WA | 39,423 | $155K | 5.2% | 3.3% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 762 | Key West FL | 24,999 | $87K | 10.9% | 2.2% | 65% | B |
| 763 | Four Square Mile CO | 23,024 | $81K | 14.8% | 3.9% | 3% | B |
| 764 | Orchards WA | 29,438 | $100K | 10.5% | 5.6% | 3% | B |
| 765 | Dunedin FL | 35,227 | $74K | 8.2% | 5.1% | 11% | B |
| 766 | Willoughby OH | 24,234 | $71K | 9.5% | 4.1% | 11% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,366 | Barstow CA | 24,804 | $53K | 23.1% | 11.9% | 17% | 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 Orchards, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
The towns next door employ 31% of Orchards
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Orchards workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orchards | – | B | B+ | 26 min | $100,146 |
| Vancouver | 31% | B | A | 23 min | $81,338 |
| Hockinson | under 2% | A | B− | 26 min | $113,295 |
| Five Corners | under 2% | A− | A− | 26 min | $106,192 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Vancouver. Darker towns draw more of Orchards’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 Orchards: questions
What is the median household income in Orchards?
$100,146 (±$9,886) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Orchards?
10.5%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Orchards?
26 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Orchards work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Vancouver (31%, 5 mi), Portland (17%, 12 mi), Seattle (4%, 134 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Orchards walkable?
Orchards is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 11.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Orchards without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 8% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Orchards, from the people who make the trip.
More of Orchards
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.