Yelm is a medium-sized city located in the state of Washington. With a population of 11,715 people and six associated neighborhoods, Yelm is the 92nd largest community in Washington. Yelm has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in Yelm, where the median household income is $90,750.00.Yelm is a military town: the armed forces employs 7.60% of the workforce, making the military a major focus of life in the city. In the civilian sector, Healthcare and Retail are important in the local economy and are the city’s largest civilian employers, employing 16.86% and 15.98% of the civilian workforce respectively. A relatively large number of people in Yelm telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 8.67% of the workforce works from home. While this may seem like a small number, as a fraction of the total workforce it ranks among the highest in the country. 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. One downside of living in Yelm is that it can take a long time to commute to work. In Yelm, the average commute to work is 34.71 minutes, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. The overall education level of Yelm is somewhat higher than in the average US city of 21.84%: 27.36% of adults 25 and older in the city have at least a bachelor's degree. The per capita income in Yelm in 2022 was $34,142, 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 $136,568 for a family of four. However, Yelm contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Yelm is an extremely ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Yelm home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Yelm residents report their race to be White, followed by Native Hawaiian. Yelm also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 16.29% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Yelm include German, Irish, Italian, English, and Norwegian. The most common language spoken in Yelm is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Langs. of India.
