Work & commute · Lake Tapps

Work & commute in Lake Tapps, WA

Most working residents leave Lake Tapps for work: only 2% work in town. The top destinations are Seattle (12%), Auburn (10%) and Kent (8%). Half commute less than 14 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

145 of 5,869 working residents

Typical commute

14 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

37 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

19%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 5,724 Lake Tapps residents head out of town to work, 145 work right here, and 964 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lake Tapps.

5,724live here, work elsewhere

145live and work here

964work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Lake Tapps goes to work

Seattle28.9 mi away

12%728

Auburn6.2 mi away

10%573

Kent11.9 mi away

8%478

Tacoma13.7 mi away

8%455

Sumner3.3 mi away

5%304

Renton18 mi away

5%277

Puyallup6.3 mi away

4%225

SeaTac16.6 mi away

3%168

Federal Way10.1 mi away

3%163

Tukwila18.4 mi away

3%150

Everywhere elseother towns and states

40%2,348

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

How far

How far Lake Tapps commutes

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

35%

37%

22%

35%Under 10 mi

37%10–24 mi

22%25–50 mi

6%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Lake Tapps is a commuter town

0.19jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Lake Tapps are

1,109 jobs are based in Lake Tapps. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lake Tapps’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Lake Tapps

1,109 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)27%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)55%

$1,250 a month or less16%

$1,251–$3,333 a month22%

Over $3,333 a month62%

Jobs Lake Tapps residents hold

5,869 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)21%

Trade, transport & utilities23%

Services (health, schools, offices…)55%

$1,250 a month or less9%

$1,251–$3,333 a month15%

Over $3,333 a month76%

+16%

Jobs based in Lake Tapps, 2013 → 2023: 960 → 1,109. 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.