Work & commute · Fife

Work & commute in Fife, WA

Most working residents leave Fife for work: only 9% work in town. The top destinations are Seattle (14%), Tacoma (13%) and Kent (5%). Half commute less than 13 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

453 of 5,209 working residents

Typical commute

13 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

27 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 4,756 Fife residents head out of town to work, 453 work right here, and 18,204 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Fife.

4,756live here, work elsewhere

453live and work here

18,204work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Fife goes to work

Seattle26.7 mi away

14%732

Tacoma5.3 mi away

13%680

Fife (in town)right here

9%453

Kent12.6 mi away

5%259

Federal Way5.5 mi away

5%255

Puyallup4.6 mi away

5%248

SeaTac14.8 mi away

5%247

Auburn8.3 mi away

5%243

Renton18.6 mi away

3%180

Tukwila17.2 mi away

3%154

Everywhere elseother towns and states

34%1,758

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

How far

How far Fife commutes

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

45%

28%

22%

45%Under 10 mi

28%10–24 mi

22%25–50 mi

5%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Fife is a job hub

3.58jobs per working resident

A job hub

3.6 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in Fife are

18,657 jobs are based in Fife. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fife’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Fife

18,657 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)13%

Trade, transport & utilities52%

Services (health, schools, offices…)35%

$1,250 a month or less8%

$1,251–$3,333 a month18%

Over $3,333 a month74%

Jobs Fife residents hold

5,209 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)16%

Trade, transport & utilities28%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month18%

Over $3,333 a month72%

+22%

Jobs based in Fife, 2013 → 2023: 15,248 → 18,657. 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.