Work & commute · Cle Elum

Work & commute in Cle Elum, WA

About one in 4 of Cle Elum’s working residents works in town. The top destinations are Seattle (10%), Ellensburg (5%) and Roslyn (4%). Half commute less than 43 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

23%

265 of 1,163 working residents

Typical commute

43 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

24 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

11%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 898 Cle Elum residents head out of town to work, 265 work right here, and 1,331 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Cle Elum.

898live here, work elsewhere

265live and work here

1,331work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Cle Elum goes to work

Cle Elum (in town)right here

23%265

Seattle71.7 mi away

10%112

Ellensburg23.2 mi away

5%56

Roslyn10.3 mi away

4%47

Bellevue62.9 mi away

3%33

Renton61.4 mi away

2%28

Snoqualmie Pass25.8 mi away

2%26

Yakima45.9 mi away

2%24

Kirkland68 mi away

1%17

Redmond63.8 mi away

1%17

Everywhere elseother towns and states

46%538

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Cle Elum commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

37%

10%

46%

37%Under 10 mi

7%10–24 mi

10%25–50 mi

46%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Cle Elum is balanced between jobs and homes

1.37jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.37 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Cle Elum are

1,596 jobs are based in Cle Elum. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Cle Elum’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Cle Elum

1,596 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)29%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)52%

$1,250 a month or less17%

$1,251–$3,333 a month31%

Over $3,333 a month52%

Jobs Cle Elum residents hold

1,163 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)27%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less14%

$1,251–$3,333 a month24%

Over $3,333 a month62%

+31%

Jobs based in Cle Elum, 2013 → 2023: 1,216 → 1,596. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.