01
The employers behind the economy
Lake Stevens has grown much faster as a residential city than as a workplace.
Lake Stevens contains 6,799 workplace jobs. Education accounts for 25% of them. Construction / Real Estate is next at 20%.
Schools and city government lead the local anchor list, followed by groceries, big-box retail, and Cobalt Enterprises manufacturing. It is a resident-serving employment base, and the city’s own trestle campaign shows how strongly local employers still depend on the US 2 connection to the rest of the region.
Workplace jobs: 2023
02
The trajectory
Workplaces are expanding faster than the resident base in Lake Stevens.
Lake Stevens’ population rose 15% from 2021–2026; its workplace job count rose 22% from 2018–2023. The source periods differ because the two series are released on different schedules.
Lake Stevens’ faster-growing workplace base gives local businesses more daytime customers. It also makes inbound travel—including the resident connection to Everett and nearby housing part of the city’s labor strategy.
Population: 2021–2026 · jobs: 2018–2023
03
The city’s regional role
Lake Stevens has one workplace job for every 6.3 residents.
Lake Stevens has 0.16 workplace jobs per resident—6,799 jobs for 42,590 people. Everett is the largest observed outside destination for resident workers.
Lake Stevens can be affluent without being job-rich. With only 0.16 workplace jobs per resident, household fortunes are unusually exposed to outside employers and the routes used to reach them.
Jobs and workplace flows: 2023 · population: 2026
04
The commute that shapes the city
Everett matters more to Lake Stevens’ workday than its own city line does.
22% of observed resident job destinations are in Everett, followed by Seattle at 19%. Only 8% are inside Lake Stevens.
Current GTFS schedules 1,909 weekday stop departures at 69 stops inside Lake Stevens; that supply still needs to be tested against the route to Everett, the largest outside job destination. Schedule supply is not ridership.
Workplace flows: 2023 · commute modes: ACS 2024
05
The housing choices
83% of Lake Stevens’ homes are detached houses.
83% of homes are detached houses; attached homes and two-to-four-unit buildings together make up 11%.
Lake Stevens’ narrow mix can work well for households able to buy or rent a house, but offers fewer ways for people living alone, downsizing, or seeking a lower-cost entry point to remain there.
ACS 2024 five-year estimates
