Photo: Squarestate7 · CC BY-SA 3.0Unemployment in Walla Walla (7.7%) is higher than in 87% of U.S. towns
Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 94.7 in Seattle. For jobs and income Walla Walla is better than 22% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (A). More than half work in Walla Walla; the top destination outside it is College Place (5%, 3 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Walla Walla in brief
Jobs & income in Walla Walla: the grade in detail
Job access by car holds Walla Walla’s grade up (ahead of 41% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Walla Walla could be anywhere from D to C+.
From Walla Walla, about 13 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Walla Walla workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 12,859 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.
Who commutes out of Walla Walla, and who commutes in
On a workday 5,350 residents head out to work, 6,157 work right here, and 8,464 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 (1.27 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 towns that employ Walla Walla’s residents
Where Walla Walla 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.
Inside Walla Walla’s 14,621 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Walla Walla, 2013 → 2023: 13,770 → 14,621. 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 Walla Walla’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Short hops and long hauls from Walla Walla
About 22% 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.
Walla Walla 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 14,834 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 32% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 6% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 41% 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). 8.4% of Walla Walla households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Walla Walla’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Walla Walla sits among U.S. towns of 24,000 to 46,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Mercer Island WA | 25,422 | $219K | 3.8% | 3.0% | 7% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 139 | Issaquah WA | 39,423 | $155K | 5.2% | 3.3% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 203 | Edmonds WA | 42,748 | $122K | 3.8% | 4.1% | 7% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,135 | Carrollton GA | 27,925 | $54K | 25.4% | 5.2% | 30% | C− |
| 1,136 | Texarkana TX | 36,195 | $51K | 22.0% | 5.2% | 43% | C− |
| 1,137 | Walla Walla WA | 34,058 | $67K | 14.3% | 7.7% | 54% | C− |
| 1,138 | Twentynine Palms CA | 25,939 | $63K | 14.5% | 3.9% | 16% | C− |
| 1,139 | Cedar City UT | 41,871 | $64K | 18.9% | 4.0% | 51% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,255 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Walla Walla, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
The towns around Walla Walla
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Walla Walla workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walla Walla | – | C− | A | 13 min | $66,748 |
| Walla Walla East | under 1% | B+ | D− | 17 min | $89,951 |
| Garrett | under 1% | B+ | B− | 11 min | $118,609 |
| College Place | 5% | C | A+ | 13 min | $61,914 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to College Place. Darker towns draw more of Walla Walla’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 Walla Walla: questions
What is the median household income in Walla Walla?
$66,748 (±$5,492) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Walla Walla?
14.3%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Walla Walla?
13 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Walla Walla work?
54% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are College Place (5%, 3 mi), Spokane (3%, 118 mi), Kennewick (3%, 41 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Walla Walla walkable?
Walla Walla is more walkable than 93% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.7 out of 20, and 13% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Walla Walla without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 6% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Walla Walla, from the people who make the trip.
More of Walla Walla
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.