Photo: LegalTech · CC BY 4.0Work and commuting in Stevenson
About one in five stay in Stevenson for work; outside it, Portland is the main destination (8%, 38 miles). Stevenson grades C for jobs and income and A− for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 0.7 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 8.3 in Vancouver.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Stevenson
Stevenson’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Stevenson is Portland, OR, 38 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (58) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Stevenson is where the jobs are
Stevenson has 1,050 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
A lot of Stevenson workers cross into Oregon
28% of Stevenson workers work outside Washington, most of them in Oregon, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
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 684 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Stevenson earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Stevenson is better than 27% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Stevenson’s grade up ($76,563, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 10% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (5.0%) is left out: Stevenson’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, Stevenson could be anywhere from D to C+.
Stevenson’s commute, mile by mile
About 30% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Stevenson
On a workday 536 residents head out to work, 148 work right here, and 902 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Stevenson on a workday afternoon, 23% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Stevenson’s workers come from
Where Stevenson clocks in
5% of workers
4% 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.
Most jobs in Stevenson are in services
1,050 jobs are based in Stevenson.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Stevenson, 2013 → 2023: 1,007 → 1,050. 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 Stevenson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Stevenson’s commute takes about 21 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Stevenson workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 439 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.
In Stevenson, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Stevenson is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.0% 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 569 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 55% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 55% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 53% 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). 7.5% of Stevenson households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Stevenson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Stevenson next to U.S. towns of 1,100 to 2,200: 3,852nd of 6,161 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 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | Fife Heights WA | 1,446 | $157K | 2.4% | 4.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,850 | Baldwin FL | 1,394 | $48K | 16.3% | 8.9% | 1% | C |
| 3,851 | Belmont MS | 1,820 | $47K | 16.6% | 1.7% | 18% | C |
| 3,852 | Stevenson WA | 1,596 | $77K | 11.9% | 5.0% | 22% | C |
| 3,853 | Algansee Township MI | 2,047 | $78K | 26.9% | 3.6% | <1% | C |
| 3,854 | Torch Lake Township MI | 1,270 | $89K | 14.9% | 0.3% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 6,161 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Stevenson, 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 Stevenson: questions
What is the median household income in Stevenson?
$76,563 (±$10,403) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Stevenson?
11.9%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Stevenson?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 23% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Stevenson work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portland (8%, 38 mi), Vancouver (5%, 34 mi), Hood River (4%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Stevenson walkable?
Stevenson is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.4 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Stevenson without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 55% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Stevenson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Stevenson
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.