Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Unemployment in Yakima (8.4%) is higher than in 90% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Yakima is better than 25% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (B+). 8% of workers have no commute at all, next to 20% for Washington as a whole. About half stay in Yakima for work; outside it, Union Gap is the main destination (5%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Yakima at work: what stands out
How the Jobs & income grade adds up in Yakima
Job access by car holds Yakima’s grade up (ahead of 66% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Yakima could be anywhere from C− to C.
From Yakima, about 18 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Yakima workers work from home, vs 20% across Washington. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 35,998 commuters (the 8% 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 works in Yakima, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 18,867 residents head out to work, 18,041 work right here, and 28,254 people come in from elsewhere.
About 107,000 people are in Yakima on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.25 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.
Out of Yakima to work: where people go
Where Yakima clocks in
2% 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.
What work there is in Yakima: 46,295 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Yakima, 2013 → 2023: 39,331 → 46,295. 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 Yakima’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far Yakima goes to work
About 21% 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.
Few in Yakima walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.3% 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 38,974 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 14% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 2% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 44% 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). 7.4% of Yakima households have no vehicle (Washington 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Yakima’s commuters take a bus or train.
Yakima and other U.S. towns of 68,000 to 132,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| 3 | Bethesda MD | 69,397 | $192K | 4.3% | 3.1% | 16% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Kirkland WA | 97,410 | $150K | 6.1% | 4.6% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Redmond WA | 82,506 | $163K | 5.6% | 4.9% | 32% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 119 | South Hill WA | 68,025 | $113K | 7.2% | 4.2% | 4% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 414 | Peoria IL | 110,920 | $59K | 21.0% | 7.5% | 47% | C |
| 415 | Beaumont TX | 112,967 | $57K | 21.2% | 6.4% | 45% | C− |
| 416 | Yakima WA | 97,458 | $63K | 16.6% | 8.4% | 49% | C− |
| 417 | Hesperia CA | 102,605 | $72K | 16.9% | 9.3% | 12% | C− |
| 418 | Allentown PA | 126,044 | $55K | 21.0% | 9.0% | 16% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 449 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | 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 Yakima, the top three, the last and three more from Washington.
Work next door: 11% of Yakima’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Yakima workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yakima | – | C− | B+ | 18 min | $62,815 |
| Ahtanum | 2% | B | D | 26 min | $96,149 |
| Union Gap | 5% | C− | B− | 16 min | $59,651 |
| Terrace Heights | 2% | B+ | C+ | 19 min | $83,016 |
| Summitview | under 1% | A− | D | 19 min | $105,184 |
| Selah | 2% | B− | B | 18 min | $74,783 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Union Gap. Darker towns draw more of Yakima’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 Yakima: questions
What is the median household income in Yakima?
$62,815 (±$2,328) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $98,141 across Washington and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Yakima?
16.6%, against 9.9% across Washington and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Yakima?
18 minutes each way on average, against 27 across Washington and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Yakima work?
49% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Union Gap (5%, 4 mi), Selah (2%, 4 mi), Seattle (2%, 111 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Yakima walkable?
Yakima is more walkable than 71% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 9.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Yakima without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 2% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Yakima, from the people who make the trip.
More of Yakima
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.