Photo: Steven Pavlov · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Soap Lake trail those of 90% of U.S. towns
The poverty rate is 27.4%, next to 9.9% for Washington as a whole. Soap Lake grades D− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Home is the office for 10% of workers; Washington has 20%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Soap Lake at work: what stands out
Soap Lake and Ephrata trade workers both ways
Ephrata is the top workplace for Soap Lake residents (21%) and also where the most people who work in Soap Lake come from (22% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
37% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Commutes from Soap Lake 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. Time on the road ↓
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; with 507 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Why Soap Lake gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty and job access, Soap Lake is better than 2% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Soap Lake’s grade.
Unemployment (8.9%) is left out: Soap Lake’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, Soap Lake could be anywhere from D− to C.
21% of working residents work in Ephrata
Where Soap Lake clocks in
21% of workers
12% of workers
5% 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.
The distance from Soap Lake to work
About 37% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Soap Lake’s commute takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Soap Lake workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 367 commuters (the 10% 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.
A workday in Soap Lake: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 482 residents head out to work, 25 work right here, and 223 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Soap Lake on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.49 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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Soap Lake
248 jobs are based in Soap Lake.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Soap Lake, 2014 → 2024: 260 → 248. 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 Soap Lake’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Soap Lake is a driving town
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Soap Lake is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.2% 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 410 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). 8.1% of Soap Lake households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Soap Lake’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Soap Lake compares with U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,500
| # | 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% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Woodway WA | 1,316 | $205K | 2.1% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Fife Heights WA | 1,446 | $157K | 2.4% | 4.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 100 | McMillin WA | 1,348 | $141K | 2.3% | 4.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,440 | Fairfax SC | 1,352 | $41K | 26.8% | 6.1% | 5% | D− |
| 5,441 | Tracy City TN | 1,427 | $39K | 24.2% | 8.3% | 7% | D− |
| 5,442 | Soap Lake WA | 1,817 | $48K | 27.4% | 8.9% | 5% | D− |
| 5,443 | Crandon WI | 1,726 | $43K | 20.9% | 1.8% | 17% | D− |
| 5,444 | Marion Township MI | 1,603 | $44K | 21.6% | 8.0% | 11% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,656 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 7% | 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 Soap Lake, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
How Soap Lake compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Soap Lake’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 Soap Lake: questions
What is the median household income in Soap Lake?
$48,125 (±$30,958) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Soap Lake?
27.4%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Soap Lake?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Soap Lake work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Ephrata (21%, 6 mi), Moses Lake (12%, 21 mi), Seattle (5%, 135 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Soap Lake walkable?
Soap Lake is more walkable than 35% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Soap Lake without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Soap Lake, from the people who make the trip.
More of Soap Lake
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.