Photo: afiler · CC BY-SA 2.0More people are out of work in Othello (5.5%) than in 68% of U.S. towns
8% of workers work from home, where Washington as a whole has 20%. Othello grades C− for jobs and income and A for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.2 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
Othello at work: what stands out
Commutes from Othello are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Washington worker. Time on the road ↓
Othello is where the jobs are
Othello has 5,141 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Othello makes and builds things
46% of the jobs based in Othello are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Othello residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 39%. The jobs ↓
The biggest group of Othello’s workers comes from Moses Lake
338 of the people who work in Othello live in Moses Lake, 22 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Othello has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Othello went from 3,735 in 2013 to 5,141 in 2023, +38%. 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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Othello
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Othello is better than 15% of U.S. towns, #268 of 285 in Washington. Household income holds Othello’s grade up ($65,849, U.S. $80,734); the poverty rate pulls it down (24.1%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Othello could be anywhere from D to C+.
A commute of about 17 minutes in Othello
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Othello workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,913 commuters (the 8% 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.
Othello fills up on a workday
On a workday 1,837 residents head out to work, 1,554 work right here, and 3,587 people come in from elsewhere.
About 11,000 people are in Othello on a workday afternoon, 19% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
In Othello, 46% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
5,141 jobs are based in Othello.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Othello, 2013 → 2023: 3,735 → 5,141. 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 Othello’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting in to Othello: where workers come from
Where Othello clocks in
5% of workers
2% 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.
Where in the region Othello works
About 24% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Othello
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Othello is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #92 of 285 in Washington. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.4% 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 3,174 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 26% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 60% 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). 11.1% of Othello households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Othello’s commuters take a bus or train.
Othello is 2,555th of 2,841 U.S. towns of 6,500 to 12,500 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Pimmit Hills VA | 6,589 | $173K | 1.6% | 1.3% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Braddock VA | 6,536 | $212K | 0.9% | 1.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Maltby WA | 10,910 | $185K | 3.9% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 114 | Normandy Park WA | 6,609 | $162K | 4.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 217 | Wollochet WA | 6,689 | $149K | 1.5% | 3.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,553 | Ephrata WA | 8,834 | $70K | 20.8% | 6.1% | 29% | C− |
| 2,554 | Winfield KS | 11,745 | $57K | 15.4% | 7.3% | 39% | C− |
| 2,555 | Othello WA | 9,237 | $66K | 24.1% | 5.5% | 46% | C− |
| 2,556 | Abbeville LA | 10,861 | $33K | 32.4% | 5.5% | 23% | C− |
| 2,557 | Highland Park MI | 8,248 | $29K | 40.9% | 18.7% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,841 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Othello, 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 Othello: questions
What is the median household income in Othello?
$65,849 (±$6,063) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Othello?
24.1%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Othello?
17 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Othello work?
46% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Moses Lake (5%, 22 mi), Spokane (2%, 100 mi), Warden (2%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Othello walkable?
Othello is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.4 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Othello without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 26% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Othello, from the people who make the trip.
More of Othello
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.