Ryan House · Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0Sumner has 3.5 jobs for every working resident: 17,393 people commute in to work
Sumner has 17,916 jobs, against 5,050 working residents. For jobs and income Sumner is better than 78% of U.S. towns (A−); for walkability it is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (A). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 94.7 in Seattle.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Sumner: the figures worth knowing
Sumner fills up on a workday
Sumner has 17,916 jobs, 3.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 24,000 people are in town, more than double the 11,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Sumner has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Sumner went from 11,198 in 2013 to 17,916 in 2023, +60%. The jobs ↓
Sumner’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Sumner is Seattle, 27 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (578) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Sumner draws workers from far and wide
The 17,916 jobs in Sumner are filled from a wide area. The ten biggest home towns of its workers supply 35%; the other 62% come from many towns beyond those. The commute map ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
44% of the jobs in Sumner are in trade, transport and utilities, against 26% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Sumner
Job access by car holds Sumner’s grade up (ahead of 83% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (5.3%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sumner could be anywhere from B to A.
Who commutes out of Sumner, and who commutes in
On a workday 4,527 residents head out to work and 523 work right here.
About 24,000 people are in Sumner on a workday afternoon, 118% more 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.
Goods, not services: 28% of the jobs in Sumner
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sumner, 2013 → 2023: 11,198 → 17,916. 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 Sumner’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Sumner
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 towns that send workers to Sumner
Where Sumner clocks in
11% of workers
7% 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 long Sumner spends getting to work: about 30 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sumner workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,661 commuters (the 13% 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.
Sumner is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,330 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 14% 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 2.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 72% 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). 4.9% of Sumner households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Sumner’s commuters take a bus or train.
818th of 2,507: where Sumner ranks among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Maltby WA | 10,910 | $185K | 3.9% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | Bothell East WA | 14,578 | $199K | 3.6% | 2.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 129 | Snoqualmie WA | 13,640 | $214K | 0.8% | 2.6% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 816 | Lanham MD | 11,433 | $104K | 7.3% | 5.4% | 3% | A− |
| 817 | Norton OH | 11,493 | $90K | 6.1% | 4.2% | 8% | A− |
| 818 | Sumner WA | 10,871 | $98K | 4.9% | 5.3% | 10% | A− |
| 819 | Conway FL | 12,928 | $87K | 8.9% | 3.3% | 2% | A− |
| 820 | Moss Bluff LA | 12,482 | $92K | 8.9% | 1.1% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Sumner, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
Work in the towns next to Sumner
The biggest share goes to Auburn (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Sumner workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sumner | – | A− | A | 30 min | $98,191 |
| Alderton | under 3% | B− | C− | 32 min | $97,446 |
| North Puyallup | under 3% | A | A− | 31 min | $83,489 |
| Edgewood | under 3% | A+ | B | 28 min | $116,132 |
| Auburn | 7% | B+ | A | 31 min | $97,884 |
| Lake Tapps | under 3% | A+ | C | 37 min | $148,005 |
| Bonney Lake | under 3% | A | B | 32 min | $136,845 |
| Pacific | under 3% | B+ | B+ | 32 min | $115,625 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Sumner’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 Sumner: questions
What is the median household income in Sumner?
$98,191 (±$6,685) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sumner?
4.9%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sumner?
30 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sumner work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Seattle (11%, 27 mi), Tacoma (10%, 10 mi), Auburn (7%, 5 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sumner walkable?
Sumner is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.7 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sumner without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sumner, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sumner
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.