Photo: Orange Suede Sofa · CC BY-SA 3.0Wapato has higher unemployment (7.9%) than 88% of U.S. towns
2% of workers have no commute at all; Washington has 20%. Jobs and income earn Wapato D; getting around on foot earns it B. Measured by household income, Wapato is behind 85% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Wapato, in brief
Wapato trades workers with the towns around it
Wapato has about as many jobs (1,608) as working residents (1,742), but they are mostly different people: 1,507 residents leave for work each day while 1,373 people come in. Only 15% of the jobs in Wapato are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Few Wapato workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 20% across Washington. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Wapato and Yakima trade workers both ways
Yakima is the top workplace for Wapato residents (27%) and also where the most people who work in Wapato come from (18% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Wapato are quick
The average trip to work takes 21 minutes, against 27 across Washington. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Washington worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer than half of Wapato workers earn over $40,000 a year
44% of Wapato’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 13% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
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.
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Wapato
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Wapato is better than 11% of U.S. towns, #272 of 285 in Washington. Job access by car holds Wapato’s grade up (ahead of 48% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (24.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Wapato could be anywhere from D to C.
Wapato by day and by night
On a workday 1,507 residents head out to work, 235 work right here, and 1,373 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 (0.92 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.
About 21 minutes each way for Wapato’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wapato workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,677 commuters (the 2% 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.
27% of working residents work in Yakima
Where Wapato clocks in
27% 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 Wapato’s 1,608 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wapato, 2013 → 2023: 1,254 → 1,608. 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 Wapato’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many miles Wapato commutes
About 19% 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.
Most trips from Wapato start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wapato is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns, #183 of 285 in Washington. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.2% 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 1,704 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 47% 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). 8.5% of Wapato households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wapato’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Wapato sits among U.S. towns of 3,100 to 6,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 14 | Larch Way WA | 4,424 | $160K | 1.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Clearview WA | 3,254 | $193K | 2.6% | 0.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 157 | Lake Holm WA | 3,555 | $177K | 1.1% | 3.0% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,606 | Walterboro SC | 5,485 | $56K | 28.2% | 6.1% | 26% | D |
| 3,607 | Sinton TX | 5,966 | $52K | 25.0% | 8.4% | 17% | D |
| 3,608 | Wapato WA | 4,469 | $52K | 24.5% | 7.9% | 13% | D |
| 3,609 | Pine City MN | 3,820 | $52K | 12.4% | 8.3% | 27% | D |
| 3,610 | Wadena MN | 4,341 | $56K | 17.7% | 6.2% | 38% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,000 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Wapato, 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 Wapato: questions
What is the median household income in Wapato?
$52,019 (±$6,983) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wapato?
24.5%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wapato?
21 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wapato work?
13% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Yakima (27%, 12 mi), Toppenish (4%, 7 mi), Union Gap (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wapato walkable?
Wapato is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 10.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wapato without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wapato, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wapato
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.