Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Steilacoom has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 94.7 in Seattle. 668 jobs are based in Steilacoom for 2,424 working residents. The two grades for Steilacoom are B for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Steilacoom apart on work
Jobs & income in Steilacoom: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Steilacoom is better than 59% of U.S. towns, #158 of 285 in Washington. Household income holds Steilacoom’s grade up ($100,851, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (6.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Steilacoom could be anywhere from C+ to A.
How many people are in Steilacoom by day
On a workday 2,352 residents head out to work, 72 work right here, and 596 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,900 people are in Steilacoom 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.
20% of working residents work in Tacoma
Where Steilacoom clocks in
13% of workers
10% 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.
In Steilacoom, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Steilacoom, 2013 → 2023: 598 → 668. 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 Steilacoom’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Steilacoom, about 28 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Steilacoom workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,396 commuters (the 23% 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.
How many miles Steilacoom commutes
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.
Steilacoom is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Steilacoom is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns, #54 of 285 in Washington. Both inputs place Steilacoom 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 3,097 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.9 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 75% 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). 2.9% of Steilacoom households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Steilacoom’s commuters take a bus or train.
Steilacoom is 1,522nd of 3,201 U.S. towns of 4,700 to 9,000 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 111 | Normandy Park WA | 6,609 | $162K | 4.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 201 | Wollochet WA | 6,689 | $149K | 1.5% | 3.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 231 | Orting WA | 8,884 | $133K | 2.4% | 2.8% | 5% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,520 | Candlewick Lake IL | 5,448 | $86K | 10.0% | 4.6% | 2% | B |
| 1,521 | Rogersville MO | 5,754 | $70K | 10.9% | 2.6% | 6% | B |
| 1,522 | Steilacoom WA | 6,648 | $101K | 11.1% | 6.0% | 3% | B |
| 1,523 | German Township IN | 7,491 | $81K | 6.0% | 5.9% | 3% | B |
| 1,524 | Georges Township PA | 6,092 | $90K | 12.2% | 2.5% | 10% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,201 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Steilacoom, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
13% of Steilacoom works in a bordering town
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Steilacoom workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steilacoom | – | B | A | 28 min | $100,851 |
| Lakewood | 13% | B− | A | 29 min | $74,720 |
| University Place | under 3% | B+ | A | 28 min | $99,031 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Lakewood. Darker towns draw more of Steilacoom’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 Steilacoom: questions
What is the median household income in Steilacoom?
$100,851 (±$11,495) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Steilacoom?
11.1%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Steilacoom?
28 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Steilacoom work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Tacoma (20%, 8 mi), Lakewood (13%, 3 mi), Seattle (10%, 33 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Steilacoom walkable?
Steilacoom is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.4 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Steilacoom without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Steilacoom, from the people who make the trip.
More of Steilacoom
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.