Lacey is a larger medium-sized coastal city (i.e. on the ocean, a bay, or inlet) located in the state of Washington. With a population of 58,644 people and 17 associated neighborhoods, Lacey is the 24th largest community in Washington.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Lacey is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Lacey is a city of sales and office workers, professionals, and service providers. There are especially a lot of people living in Lacey who work in office and administrative support (13.57%), management occupations (12.03%), and sales jobs (9.75%). There are quite a few people in the armed forces living in Lacey, and when you visit or drive around town, you will see military people in and out of uniform, shopping, enjoying life, and being part of the community. Also of interest is that Lacey 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: 16.94% 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. Lacey is also nautical, which means that parts of it are somewhat historic and touch the ocean or tidal bodies of water, such as inlets and bays. Such areas are often places that visitors and locals go for waterfront activities or taking in the scenery. The population of Lacey is very well educated relative to most cities and towns in the nation, where the average community has 21.84% of its adult population holding a 4-year degree or higher: 34.10% of adults in Lacey have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree. The per capita income in Lacey in 2022 was $42,173, which is middle income relative to Washington, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $168,692 for a family of four. However, Lacey contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Lacey is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Lacey home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Lacey residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. Lacey also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.40% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Lacey include German, English, Irish, Italian, and Norwegian. The most common language spoken in Lacey is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Vietnamese.
