Work & commute · Des Moines

Work & commute in Des Moines, WA

Most working residents leave Des Moines for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Seattle (25%), SeaTac (9%) and Kent (8%). Half commute less than 11 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

493 of 13,994 working residents

Typical commute

11 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

31 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

15%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 13,501 Des Moines residents head out of town to work, 493 work right here, and 5,267 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Des Moines.

13,501live here, work elsewhere

493live and work here

5,267work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Des Moines goes to work

Seattle16 mi away

25%3,548

SeaTac3.9 mi away

9%1,268

Kent4.9 mi away

8%1,083

Renton8.5 mi away

5%761

Tukwila6.4 mi away

5%673

Burien6.1 mi away

5%639

Tacoma11.5 mi away

4%577

Bellevue16.2 mi away

4%553

Des Moines (in town)right here

4%493

Auburn7.7 mi away

3%475

Everywhere elseother towns and states

28%3,924

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

How far

How far Des Moines commutes

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

46%

42%

46%Under 10 mi

42%10–24 mi

6%25–50 mi

5%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Des Moines is a commuter town

0.41jobs per working resident

A commuter town

0.41 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Des Moines are

5,760 jobs are based in Des Moines. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Des Moines’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Des Moines

5,760 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)9%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)75%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month65%

Jobs Des Moines residents hold

13,994 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)15%

Trade, transport & utilities25%

Services (health, schools, offices…)60%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month20%

Over $3,333 a month70%

+46%

Jobs based in Des Moines, 2013 → 2023: 3,952 → 5,760. 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.