Photo: Oiyarbepsy · CC BY-SA 4.0Purdy has 2.9 jobs for every working resident: 1,939 people commute in to work
Employers in Purdy report 1,964 jobs for 680 working residents. Jobs and income earn Purdy A; getting around on foot earns it B−. Only 4% work in Purdy itself; outside it, Tacoma draws the most (15%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Purdy, in brief
Purdy is where the jobs are
Purdy has 1,964 jobs, 2.9 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,600 people are in town, 96% more than the 1,300 who live here. Day and night ↓
Nearly all the work in Purdy is services
87% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 4% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Purdy are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Washington worker, and quicker than any town next door (32 to 35 minutes). Time on the road ↓
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; with 680 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Purdy’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Purdy is better than 86% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate is its strongest input (2.5%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 61% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and job access by car.
Unemployment (10.9%) is left out: Purdy’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Purdy could be anywhere from B to A+.
Who leaves Purdy for work, and who comes in
On a workday 655 residents head out to work and 25 work right here.
About 2,600 people are in Purdy on a workday afternoon, 96% more 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.
Purdy is a services town
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Purdy, 2013 → 2023: 1,475 → 1,964. 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 Purdy’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes each way for Purdy’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Purdy workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 382 commuters (the 22% 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.
Where Purdy’s workers come from
Where Purdy clocks in
11% of workers
9% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Purdy
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.
In Purdy, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Purdy is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Purdy near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 489 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 6.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 87% 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). 1.2% of Purdy households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Purdy’s commuters take a bus or train.
Purdy is 353rd of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Yarrow Point WA | 1,143 | $250K | 4.5% | 2.2% | 0% | A+ |
| 24 | Woodway WA | 1,316 | $205K | 2.1% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Fife Heights WA | 1,446 | $157K | 2.4% | 4.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 351 | Wayne Township IN | 1,737 | $125K | 3.1% | 4.8% | 1% | A |
| 352 | Kewaskum WI | 1,111 | $94K | 3.7% | 0.6% | 1% | A |
| 353 | Purdy WA | 1,344 | $91K | 2.5% | 10.9% | 4% | A |
| 354 | New Haven Township MN | 1,259 | $133K | 3.6% | 1.7% | <1% | A |
| 355 | Munson Township MN | 1,491 | $121K | 2.5% | 6.8% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Purdy, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
The towns around Purdy
The biggest share goes to Gig Harbor (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Purdy workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purdy | – | A | B− | 21 min | $91,204 |
| Canterwood | under 2% | B+ | C | 35 min | $159,808 |
| Gig Harbor | 9% | A | A | 32 min | $118,395 |
| Maplewood | under 2% | B+ | B− | 33 min | $135,943 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Purdy’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 Purdy: questions
What is the median household income in Purdy?
$91,204 (±$38,158) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Purdy?
2.5%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Purdy?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Purdy work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tacoma (15%, 12 mi), Seattle (11%, 19 mi), Gig Harbor (9%, 4 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Purdy walkable?
Purdy is more walkable than 46% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Purdy without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Purdy, from the people who make the trip.
More of Purdy
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.