Photo: Williamborg · Public domainMaking a living in Touchet
Only 1% stay in Touchet for work; outside it, Walla Walla is the main destination (35%, 16 miles). 11% of workers work from home (Washington 20%). The trip to work takes 22 minutes on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who works in Touchet, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 157 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 141 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 (0.90 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.
Where Touchet goes to work
Where Touchet clocks in
35% of workers
6% 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.
Touchet makes things: 78% of its jobs are in goods
143 jobs are based in Touchet.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Touchet, 2014 → 2024: 91 → 143. 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 Touchet’s own residents hold wherever they work.
From Touchet, about 22 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Touchet workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 263 commuters (the 11% 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.
Half of Touchet commutes less than 18 miles
About 25% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
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 Touchet: questions
What is the median household income in Touchet?
$89,792 (±$26,373) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Touchet?
0.2%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Touchet?
22 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Touchet work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Walla Walla (35%, 16 mi), Waitsburg (6%, 30 mi), Pasco (3%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Can you get around Touchet without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Touchet, from the people who make the trip.
More of Touchet
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.