Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Parkland commutes out: there are 0.4 jobs for every working resident
7% of workers have no commute at all; Washington has 20%. 6,848 jobs are based in Parkland; 15,653 of its residents have a job. Jobs and income earn Parkland B−; getting around on foot earns it A.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Parkland at work: what stands out
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Parkland
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Parkland is better than 46% of U.S. towns, #205 of 285 in Washington. Job access by car holds Parkland’s grade up (ahead of 83% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (6.1%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Parkland could be anywhere from C+ to B.
19% of working residents work in Tacoma
Where Parkland clocks in
10% of workers
7% 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.
Parkland quiets down on a workday
On a workday 15,032 residents head out to work, 621 work right here, and 6,227 people come in from elsewhere.
About 30,000 people are in Parkland on a workday afternoon, 23% 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 2024, primary jobs.
What Parkland’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Parkland, 2014 → 2024: 6,399 → 6,848. 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 Parkland’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 31 minutes each way for Parkland’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Parkland workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 17,424 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.
How far it is to work from Parkland
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.
Parkland is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 18,770 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 82% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 31% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 10.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 94% 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). 7.3% of Parkland households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Parkland’s commuters take a bus or train.
Parkland is 819th of 1,113 U.S. towns of 27,000 to 52,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 3 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 117 | Issaquah WA | 39,423 | $155K | 5.2% | 3.3% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 172 | Edmonds WA | 42,748 | $122K | 3.8% | 4.1% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 254 | Camas WA | 27,749 | $141K | 5.0% | 4.0% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 817 | Bath Township OH | 40,768 | $63K | 14.5% | 4.4% | 10% | B− |
| 818 | Stockbridge GA | 36,331 | $70K | 12.3% | 6.5% | 5% | B− |
| 819 | Parkland WA | 38,742 | $72K | 13.0% | 6.1% | 4% | B− |
| 820 | Northport AL | 31,648 | $81K | 12.3% | 5.7% | 12% | B− |
| 821 | North Miami Beach FL | 46,236 | $63K | 14.6% | 5.5% | 6% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,113 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 25% | 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 Parkland, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
26% of Parkland works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Tacoma (19%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Parkland workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parkland | – | B− | A | 31 min | $72,239 |
| McChord AFB | under 3% | C+ | A− | 14 min | $54,808 |
| Clover Creek | under 3% | B− | B+ | 33 min | $95,061 |
| Tacoma | 19% | B | A+ | 29 min | $85,884 |
| Lakewood | 7% | B− | A | 29 min | $74,720 |
| Spanaway | under 3% | B+ | B+ | 37 min | $98,251 |
| Midland | under 3% | B | A− | 33 min | $84,700 |
| Frederickson | under 3% | B+ | B | 36 min | $109,500 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Parkland’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 Parkland: questions
What is the median household income in Parkland?
$72,239 (±$5,893) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Parkland?
13.0%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Parkland?
31 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Parkland work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tacoma (19%, 8 mi), Seattle (10%, 33 mi), Lakewood (7%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Parkland walkable?
Parkland is more walkable than 92% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 11.7 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Parkland without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 31% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Parkland, from the people who make the trip.
More of Parkland
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.