Fireboat No.1 · Photo: Mike Lane · CC BY-SA 3.0At 5.6%, unemployment in Tacoma is higher than in 69% of U.S. towns
About one in four stay in Tacoma for work; outside it, Seattle is the main destination (12%, 26 miles). Tacoma grades B for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. The trip to work takes 29 minutes on average, next to 27 for Washington and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Tacoma stands out on work
How Tacoma earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Tacoma is better than 57% of U.S. towns, #166 of 285 in Washington. Job access by car holds Tacoma’s grade up (ahead of 86% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Tacoma could be anywhere from B− to B.
Where in the region Tacoma works
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.
Tacoma on a workday afternoon
On a workday 67,164 residents head out to work, 26,187 work right here, and 90,019 people come in from elsewhere.
About 253,000 people are in Tacoma on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.24 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Tacoma: the destinations
Where Tacoma clocks in
12% of workers
4% 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.
70% of the jobs in Tacoma pay over $3,333 a month
116,206 jobs are based in Tacoma.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Tacoma, 2014 → 2024: 97,153 → 116,206. 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 Tacoma’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Tacoma, about 29 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Tacoma workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 93,268 commuters (the 16% 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.
Tacoma is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 110,688 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 95% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 60% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 12.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 95% 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). 8.8% of Tacoma households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Tacoma’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
For jobs and income, Tacoma is 50th of 110 U.S. towns of 161,000 to 310,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Oyster Bay NY | 301,115 | $160K | 3.9% | 4.6% | 19% | A |
| 3 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 46 | Vancouver WA | 199,698 | $81K | 10.2% | 5.7% | 35% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Oxnard CA | 199,651 | $96K | 11.0% | 6.5% | 28% | B |
| 49 | Cape Coral FL | 236,264 | $78K | 10.7% | 3.8% | 22% | B |
| 50 | Tacoma WA | 229,816 | $86K | 12.4% | 5.6% | 28% | B |
| 51 | Fort Lauderdale FL | 188,677 | $83K | 15.0% | 5.3% | 26% | B |
| 52 | Moreno Valley CA | 214,263 | $93K | 11.7% | 7.1% | 15% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 74 | Spokane WA | 230,783 | $70K | 13.8% | 5.7% | 51% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 110 | Shreveport LA | 175,902 | $49K | 23.5% | 9.0% | 61% | C− |
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 Tacoma, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
10% of Tacoma works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Lakewood (4%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Tacoma workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tacoma | – | B | A+ | 29 min | $85,884 |
| University Place | under 3% | B+ | A | 28 min | $99,031 |
| Midland | under 3% | B | A− | 33 min | $84,700 |
| Fife | 3% | B | A− | 27 min | $90,532 |
| Browns Point | under 3% | — | — | 35 min | — |
| Dash Point | under 3% | — | — | 29 min | — |
| Fife Heights | under 3% | A+ | C+ | 25 min | $157,292 |
| Lakewood | 4% | B− | A | 29 min | $74,720 |
| Parkland | under 3% | B− | A | 31 min | $72,239 |
| Waller | under 3% | A− | B− | 32 min | $101,490 |
| Federal Way | 3% | B | A | 32 min | $86,909 |
Same-state neighbors only. Browns Point and Dash Point: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Tacoma’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 Tacoma: questions
What is the median household income in Tacoma?
$85,884 (±$1,903) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Tacoma?
12.4%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Tacoma?
29 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 16% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Tacoma work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Seattle (12%, 26 mi), Lakewood (4%, 7 mi), Kent (4%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Tacoma walkable?
Tacoma is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 13.8 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Tacoma without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 60% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Tacoma, from the people who make the trip.
More of Tacoma
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.