Photo: Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0More people are out of work in Vancouver (5.7%) than in 71% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 8.3 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 94.7 in Seattle. Vancouver grades B for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in three work in Vancouver itself; outside it, Portland draws the most (19%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Vancouver and work: the main findings
A lot of Vancouver workers cross into Oregon
25% of Vancouver workers work outside Washington, most of them in Oregon, the Census survey finds. The commute map ↓
Most Vancouver residents work close to home
67% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
A lot of Vancouver works one town over
25% of working residents work in a town that borders Vancouver: Portland (19%), Camas (3%) and Hazel Dell (2%). Next door ↓
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.
Inside Vancouver’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Vancouver is better than 58% of U.S. towns, #163 of 285 in Washington. Job access by car holds Vancouver’s grade up (ahead of 85% 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, Vancouver could be anywhere from B− to B.
Out of Vancouver to work: where people go
Where Vancouver clocks in
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.
Where in the region Vancouver works
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.
The daily commute in and out of Vancouver
On a workday 54,972 residents head out to work, 29,327 work right here, and 70,968 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 (1.19 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.
67% of the jobs in Vancouver pay over $3,333 a month
100,295 jobs are based in Vancouver.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Vancouver, 2013 → 2023: 77,530 → 100,295. 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 Vancouver’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Vancouver’s commute takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Vancouver workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 79,248 commuters (the 18% 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: Vancouver
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Vancouver is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns, #77 of 285 in Washington. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 5.0% 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 96,227 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 74% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 21% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 8.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 92% 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). 6.9% of Vancouver households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Vancouver’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Out of 137 U.S. towns of 140,000 to 270,000, Vancouver comes 55th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Hempstead NY | 238,982 | $158K | 4.5% | 4.1% | 20% | A |
| 2 | Frisco TX | 236,955 | $150K | 3.6% | 4.6% | 14% | A |
| 3 | Olathe KS | 150,025 | $114K | 5.6% | 2.7% | 26% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Bellevue WA | 154,193 | $166K | 7.2% | 4.2% | 21% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Garden Grove CA | 170,455 | $92K | 12.3% | 6.0% | 10% | B |
| 54 | Salt Lake City UT | 218,428 | $75K | 13.6% | 4.2% | 49% | B |
| 55 | Vancouver WA | 199,698 | $81K | 10.2% | 5.7% | 35% | B |
| 56 | Ontario CA | 187,013 | $89K | 12.4% | 6.3% | 15% | B |
| 57 | Oxnard CA | 199,651 | $96K | 11.0% | 6.5% | 27% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Tacoma WA | 229,816 | $86K | 12.4% | 5.6% | 28% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Spokane WA | 230,783 | $70K | 13.8% | 5.7% | 52% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 137 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Vancouver, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
Vancouver and its neighbors: 25% work next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Vancouver workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vancouver | – | B | A | 23 min | $81,338 |
| Hazel Dell | 2% | B− | A | 25 min | $86,305 |
| Minnehaha | under 2% | B+ | B+ | 20 min | $100,668 |
| Five Corners | under 2% | A− | A− | 26 min | $106,192 |
| Orchards | 1% | B | B+ | 26 min | $100,146 |
| Camas | 3% | A | B+ | 25 min | $141,126 |
| Lake Shore | under 2% | A− | B+ | 28 min | $130,729 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Portland. Darker towns draw more of Vancouver’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 Vancouver: questions
What is the median household income in Vancouver?
$81,338 (±$1,531) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Vancouver?
10.2%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Vancouver?
23 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Vancouver work?
35% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portland (19%, 7 mi), Seattle (3%, 137 mi), Camas (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Vancouver walkable?
Vancouver is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.6 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Vancouver without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 21% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Vancouver, from the people who make the trip.
More of Vancouver
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.