Work & commute · Spanaway

Work & commute in Spanaway, WA

Most working residents leave Spanaway for work: only 4% work in town. The top destinations are Tacoma (16%), Seattle (9%) and Lakewood (7%). Half commute less than 13 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

628 of 14,529 working residents

Typical commute

13 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

37 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 13,901 Spanaway residents head out of town to work, 628 work right here, and 5,638 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Spanaway.

13,901live here, work elsewhere

628live and work here

5,638work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Spanaway goes to work

Tacoma10.8 mi away

16%2,372

Seattle36.2 mi away

9%1,370

Lakewood6.7 mi away

7%962

Puyallup8.3 mi away

5%678

Spanaway (in town)right here

4%628

Kent22.4 mi away

4%579

Auburn17.4 mi away

4%509

Fife9.9 mi away

3%486

Renton28.4 mi away

2%348

Federal Way15.3 mi away

2%338

Everywhere elseother towns and states

43%6,259

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

How far

How far Spanaway commutes

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

34%

35%

22%

34%Under 10 mi

35%10–24 mi

22%25–50 mi

9%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Spanaway is a commuter town

0.43jobs per working resident

A commuter town

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Spanaway are

6,266 jobs are based in Spanaway. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Spanaway’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Spanaway

6,266 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)5%

Trade, transport & utilities18%

Services (health, schools, offices…)77%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month33%

Over $3,333 a month55%

Jobs Spanaway residents hold

14,529 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)18%

Trade, transport & utilities26%

Services (health, schools, offices…)56%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month21%

Over $3,333 a month69%

+31%

Jobs based in Spanaway, 2013 → 2023: 4,786 → 6,266. 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.