Photo: Wicker529 · CC BY-SA 4.0Rainier has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs and income earn Rainier C+; getting around on foot earns it D. Rainier has 268 jobs, against 908 working residents. Household incomes here are higher than in 81% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Rainier and work: the main findings
Rainier is a place people come home to
There are 268 jobs based in Rainier, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Rainier has about 1,900 people in it, 26% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Rainier workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 38 minutes each way, against 27 across Washington. Over a year that’s about 291 hours of commuting, 84 more than the state’s typical worker. 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 908 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The figures behind Rainier’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rainier is better than 40% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Rainier’s grade up ($106,019, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 22% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rainier could be anywhere from C− to A−.
Rainier on a workday afternoon
On a workday 872 residents head out to work, 36 work right here, and 232 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,900 people are in Rainier on a workday afternoon, 26% 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.
About 38 minutes to work from Rainier
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 12.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rainier workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 779 commuters (the 24% 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.
16% of working residents work in Olympia
Where Rainier clocks in
16% of workers
8% 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.
What Rainier’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rainier, 2013 → 2023: 240 → 268. 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 Rainier’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Rainier
About 21% 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.
For most of Rainier, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rainier is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Rainier 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 1,020 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 0.0% of Rainier households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rainier’s commuters take a bus or train.
Rainier places 2,980th of 5,401 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Clearview WA | 3,254 | $193K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | Medina WA | 2,974 | $250K | 4.7% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | Cathcart WA | 2,064 | $130K | 3.2% | 1.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,978 | Douglas Township IL | 1,977 | $74K | 5.9% | 5.8% | 18% | C+ |
| 2,979 | Monroe UT | 2,738 | $66K | 6.7% | 3.5% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,980 | Rainier WA | 2,495 | $106K | 14.6% | 5.0% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,981 | Milton WV | 2,792 | $46K | 23.3% | 0.8% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,982 | Burgess Township IL | 2,140 | $65K | 11.6% | 3.1% | 2% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,401 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Rainier, 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 Rainier: questions
What is the median household income in Rainier?
$106,019 (±$12,576) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rainier?
14.6%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rainier?
38 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rainier work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Olympia (16%, 14 mi), Lacey (8%, 12 mi), Tacoma (8%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rainier walkable?
Rainier is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rainier without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rainier, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rainier
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.