Ellensburg is a medium-sized city located in the state of Washington. With a population of 20,996 people and seven associated neighborhoods, Ellensburg is the 62nd largest community in Washington.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Ellensburg is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Ellensburg is a city of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Ellensburg who work in food service (15.42%), sales jobs (9.26%), and teaching (9.22%). Also of interest is that Ellensburg has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US. One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 10.26% of the workforce. While this number may seem small overall, as a fraction of the total workforce this is high compared to the rest of the county. These workers are often telecommuters who work in knowledge-based, white-collar professions. For example, Silicon Valley has large numbers of people who telecommute. Other at-home workers may be self-employed people who operate small businesses out of their homes. Ellensburg is also a major college town with a large number of people who are 18 years or older and attending college. As is often the case in college towns, the many students that live in Ellensburg have a strong influence on the local culture and entertainment scene, which may seem dormant by comparison in the summer months when much of the student population is away. In the fall, the return of students has a reinvigorating effect on the community. Because colleges are lasting institutions, they have a stabilizing effect on the economy by providing direct local benefits such as jobs for faculty and staff and spending by students. Ellensburg’s economy is one such example of this. Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 16.98 minutes getting to work every day.The education level of Ellensburg ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in Ellensburg, 41.25% have at least a bachelor's degree. The typical US community has just 21.84% of its adults holding a bachelor's degree or graduate degree. The per capita income in Ellensburg in 2022 was $31,725, which is lower middle income relative to Washington, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $126,900 for a family of four. However, Ellensburg contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Ellensburg is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Ellensburg home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Ellensburg residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Ellensburg also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 13.12% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Ellensburg include German, Irish, English, European, and Norwegian. The most common language spoken in Ellensburg is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Pacific Island languages.
