Work & commute · Fort Lewis

Work & commute in Fort Lewis, WA

Most working residents leave Fort Lewis for work: only 3% work in town. The top destinations are Seattle (11%), Tacoma (7%) and Lakewood (6%). Half commute less than 34 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

51 of 1,674 working residents

Typical commute

34 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

11 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 1,623 Fort Lewis residents head out of town to work, 51 work right here, and 1,441 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Fort Lewis.

1,623live here, work elsewhere

51live and work here

1,441work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Fort Lewis goes to work

Seattle37.6 mi away

11%182

Tacoma11.9 mi away

7%118

Lakewood5.1 mi away

6%98

Everett62.4 mi away

4%60

Fort Lewis (in town)right here

3%51

Olympia15.9 mi away

3%47

Bellevue39.6 mi away

2%40

Lacey11.4 mi away

2%39

Vancouver100.8 mi away

2%34

DuPont3.9 mi away

2%33

Everywhere elseother towns and states

58%972

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

How far

How far Fort Lewis commutes

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

19%

22%

30%

19%Under 10 mi

22%10–24 mi

30%25–50 mi

30%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Fort Lewis is balanced between jobs and homes

0.89jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (0.89 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Fort Lewis are

1,492 jobs are based in Fort Lewis. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fort Lewis’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Fort Lewis

1,492 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)3%

Trade, transport & utilities12%

Services (health, schools, offices…)85%

$1,250 a month or less9%

$1,251–$3,333 a month19%

Over $3,333 a month72%

Jobs Fort Lewis residents hold

1,674 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)11%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)65%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month29%

Over $3,333 a month53%

+40%

Jobs based in Fort Lewis, 2013 → 2023: 1,068 → 1,492. 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.