Work & commute · Sumner

Work & commute in Sumner, WA

Most working residents leave Sumner for work: only 10% work in town. The top destinations are Seattle (11%), Tacoma (10%) and Auburn (7%). Half commute less than 12 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

10%

523 of 5,050 working residents

Typical commute

12 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

30 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

13%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 4,527 Sumner residents head out of town to work, 523 work right here, and 17,393 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Sumner.

4,527live here, work elsewhere

523live and work here

17,393work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Sumner goes to work

Seattle27.3 mi away

11%578

Sumner (in town)right here

10%523

Tacoma10.5 mi away

10%492

Auburn5.2 mi away

7%368

Kent11 mi away

7%330

Puyallup4.5 mi away

6%285

Federal Way7.2 mi away

4%178

Renton17.2 mi away

3%162

Bellevue25.5 mi away

2%123

SeaTac14.9 mi away

2%106

Everywhere elseother towns and states

38%1,905

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

How far

How far Sumner commutes

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

39%

33%

22%

39%Under 10 mi

33%10–24 mi

22%25–50 mi

6%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Sumner is a job hub

3.55jobs per working resident

A job hub

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

The jobs

What the jobs in Sumner are

17,916 jobs are based in Sumner. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sumner’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Sumner

17,916 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)28%

Trade, transport & utilities44%

Services (health, schools, offices…)28%

$1,250 a month or less10%

$1,251–$3,333 a month20%

Over $3,333 a month70%

Jobs Sumner residents hold

5,050 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)20%

Trade, transport & utilities26%

Services (health, schools, offices…)54%

$1,250 a month or less9%

$1,251–$3,333 a month18%

Over $3,333 a month72%

+60%

Jobs based in Sumner, 2013 → 2023: 11,198 → 17,916. 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.