Photo: Steven Pavlov · CC BY-SA 4.0Sammamish has some of the highest household incomes of any U.S. town
Below the poverty line: 4.3% of residents, next to 9.9% across Washington. Household incomes here are among the highest in the country. The two grades for Sammamish are A for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sammamish and work: the main findings
A lot of Sammamish works from home
39% of Sammamish workers work from home, against 20% across Washington. Time on the road ↓
A lot of Sammamish works one town over
42% of working residents work in a town that borders Sammamish: Redmond (22%), Bellevue (14%) and Issaquah (6%). Next door ↓
Four in five Sammamish workers earn over $40,000 a year
84% of Sammamish’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
Sammamish is a place people come home to
There are 6,700 jobs based in Sammamish, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Sammamish has about 41,000 people in it, 38% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A longer commute than the towns next door
Sammamish averages 29 minutes each way, more than any bordering town (22 to 25 minutes). Next door ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2024, 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: Sammamish’s grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sammamish is better than 94% of U.S. towns, #17 of 285 in Washington. Household income is its strongest input ($239,690, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.1%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sammamish could be anywhere from A to A+.
A commute of about 29 minutes in Sammamish
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sammamish workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 19,939 commuters (the 39% 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.
68% of the jobs in Sammamish pay over $3,333 a month
6,700 jobs are based in Sammamish.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sammamish, 2014 → 2024: 4,899 → 6,700. 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 Sammamish’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily flow of workers through Sammamish
On a workday 30,827 residents head out to work, 1,047 work right here, and 5,653 people come in from elsewhere.
About 41,000 people are in Sammamish on a workday afternoon, 38% fewer than live here.
0.21 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 2024, primary jobs.
27% of working residents work in Seattle
Where Sammamish clocks in
27% 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.
How many miles Sammamish commutes
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.
In Sammamish, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sammamish is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns, #97 of 285 in Washington. Both inputs place Sammamish 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 32,602 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 42% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 2% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 8.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 91% 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). 1.6% of Sammamish households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Sammamish’s commuters take a bus or train.
Sammamish next to U.S. towns of 46,000 to 89,000: 37th of 669 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 35 | Glenview IL | 47,711 | $143K | 6.0% | 3.4% | 9% | A |
| 36 | Apex NC | 80,419 | $144K | 2.2% | 3.8% | 8% | A |
| 37 | Sammamish WA | 66,110 | $240K | 4.3% | 3.1% | 3% | A |
| 38 | Plainfield IL | 50,043 | $144K | 4.2% | 3.8% | 9% | A |
| 39 | Minnetonka MN | 53,969 | $120K | 5.9% | 3.0% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Bothell WA | 52,199 | $140K | 4.8% | 3.9% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 130 | Redmond WA | 82,506 | $163K | 5.6% | 4.9% | 32% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 221 | Shoreline WA | 66,542 | $113K | 8.8% | 4.6% | 7% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 669 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 27% | 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 Sammamish, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
Next door is work for 42% of Sammamish
The biggest share goes to Redmond (22%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Sammamish’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 Sammamish: questions
What is the median household income in Sammamish?
$239,690 (±$15,260) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sammamish?
4.3%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sammamish?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 39% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sammamish work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Seattle (27%, 15 mi), Redmond (22%, 7 mi), Bellevue (14%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Sammamish walkable?
Sammamish is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sammamish without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 2% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sammamish, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sammamish
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.