Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0At 5.3%, unemployment in Pasco is higher than in 65% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 8% of workers, next to 20% for Washington as a whole. The two grades for Pasco are B− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Measured by household income, Pasco is ahead of 63% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Pasco: the gist
A lot of Pasco works one town over
38% of working residents work in a town that borders Pasco: Richland (20%), Kennewick (17%) and Burbank (1%). Next door ↓
Most Pasco residents work close to home
67% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Pasco’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pasco is better than 48% of U.S. towns, #201 of 285 in Washington. Household income holds Pasco’s grade up ($85,586, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pasco could be anywhere from C+ to B.
Near or far: the trip to work from Pasco
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.
Who commutes out of Pasco, and who commutes in
On a workday 24,897 residents head out to work, 7,965 work right here, and 16,605 people come in from elsewhere.
About 75,000 people are in Pasco on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.75 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute 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.
Where Pasco goes to work
Where Pasco clocks in
20% of workers
17% 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.
Jobs in Pasco: what the 24,570 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pasco, 2013 → 2023: 18,425 → 24,570. 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 Pasco’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Pasco’s commute takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pasco workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 32,832 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.
The commute in Pasco is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pasco is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns, #165 of 285 in Washington. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.7% 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 35,588 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 86% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 22% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 79% 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). 4.5% of Pasco households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Pasco’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 58,000 to 112,000, Pasco ranks 385th of 555 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 29 | Sammamish WA | 66,110 | $240K | 4.3% | 3.1% | 3% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Kirkland WA | 97,410 | $150K | 6.1% | 4.6% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 95 | Redmond WA | 82,506 | $163K | 5.6% | 4.9% | 32% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 383 | Westminster CA | 88,966 | $86K | 14.4% | 7.2% | 7% | B− |
| 384 | Council Bluffs IA | 62,680 | $65K | 15.1% | 4.2% | 37% | B− |
| 385 | Pasco WA | 82,848 | $86K | 12.6% | 5.3% | 24% | B− |
| 386 | Boynton Beach FL | 82,396 | $70K | 13.7% | 5.4% | 11% | B− |
| 387 | Lakewood WA | 62,755 | $75K | 13.2% | 5.7% | 15% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 555 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Pasco, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
The towns next door employ 38% of Pasco
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pasco workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pasco | – | B− | B+ | 23 min | $85,586 |
| Kennewick | 17% | C+ | A− | 21 min | $73,576 |
| Richland | 20% | B | A− | 20 min | $95,813 |
| Finley | under 1% | B | D | 28 min | $92,231 |
| West Pasco | under 1% | A | C+ | 21 min | $120,341 |
| Burbank | 1% | B− | C− | 30 min | $93,158 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Richland. Darker towns draw more of Pasco’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 Pasco: questions
What is the median household income in Pasco?
$85,586 (±$5,613) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pasco?
12.6%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pasco?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pasco work?
24% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Richland (20%, 8 mi), Kennewick (17%, 5 mi), Seattle (2%, 179 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pasco walkable?
Pasco is more walkable than 72% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 12.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pasco without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 22% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pasco, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pasco
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.