Yakima Indian Agency Building · Photo: Steven Pavlov · CC BY-SA 4.0Unemployment in Toppenish (8.7%) is higher than in 91% of U.S. towns
4% of workers work from home, next to 20% for Washington as a whole. For jobs and income Toppenish is better than 19% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (A−). Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.2 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
The work figures that set Toppenish apart
Few Toppenish workers work from home
Only 4% of workers work from home, against 20% across Washington. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Toppenish and Yakima trade workers both ways
Yakima is the top workplace for Toppenish residents (16%) and also where the most people who work in Toppenish come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Toppenish are quick
The average trip to work takes 22 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 38 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Toppenish’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Job access by car holds Toppenish’s grade up (ahead of 44% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Toppenish could be anywhere from D to C.
About 22 minutes each way for Toppenish’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Toppenish workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,550 commuters (the 4% 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.
16% of working residents work in Yakima
Where Toppenish clocks in
16% of workers
3% of workers
3% 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 daily commute in and out of Toppenish
On a workday 2,761 residents head out to work, 650 work right here, and 2,209 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.84 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
The kinds of work in Toppenish
2,859 jobs are based in Toppenish.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Toppenish, 2013 → 2023: 2,134 → 2,859. 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 Toppenish’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Toppenish
About 18% 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.
Toppenish is easy on foot, hard by bus
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 3,700 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 54% 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 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 43% 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). 4.4% of Toppenish households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Toppenish’s commuters take a bus or train.
2,597th of 2,980: where Toppenish ranks among U.S. towns of 6,000 to 11,700
| # | 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 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Maltby WA | 10,910 | $185K | 3.9% | 1.4% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 120 | Normandy Park WA | 6,609 | $162K | 4.9% | 2.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 225 | Wollochet WA | 6,689 | $149K | 1.5% | 3.3% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,595 | Coal Township PA | 9,721 | $51K | 14.1% | 6.0% | 10% | C− |
| 2,596 | Jonesboro GA | 6,046 | $51K | 35.3% | 10.8% | 5% | C− |
| 2,597 | Toppenish WA | 8,635 | $68K | 18.0% | 8.7% | 19% | C− |
| 2,598 | Franklin CA | 7,392 | $58K | 22.9% | 6.9% | 1% | C− |
| 2,599 | Farmersville CA | 10,326 | $61K | 22.9% | 8.0% | 7% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,980 | 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 Toppenish, 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 Toppenish: questions
What is the median household income in Toppenish?
$67,854 (±$7,937) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Toppenish?
18.0%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Toppenish?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Toppenish work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Yakima (16%, 18 mi), Sunnyside (3%, 15 mi), Wapato (3%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Toppenish walkable?
Toppenish is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 10.1 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Toppenish without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Toppenish, from the people who make the trip.
More of Toppenish
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.