Cheney is a somewhat small city located in the state of Washington. With a population of 12,747 people and four associated neighborhoods, Cheney is the 76th largest community in Washington.Cheney is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Cheney is a city of service providers, professionals, and sales and office workers. There are especially a lot of people living in Cheney who work in food service (12.45%), office and administrative support (11.46%), and sales jobs (9.18%). A relatively large number of people in Cheney telecommute to their jobs. Overall, about 8.68% 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. Cheney is a small town where college students really create the town feel and character. So many small towns have lost population over the last 20-30 years that having the local college presence in the Cheney area, with all of the energy of the students filling area dorms and apartments each fall, really helps Cheney maintain a good economy. Cheney, even though it is a small city, has many people who use public transportation every day to get to and from work. This is a great benefit for people in the, city who have a need for low-cost transportation.Cheney is one of the most well-educated cities in the nation. 41.65% of adults in Cheney have at least a bachelor's degree. Compare that to the average community in America, which has just 21.84% with a bachelor's degree or higher. The per capita income in Cheney in 2022 was $24,693, which is low income relative to Washington, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $98,772 for a family of four. However, Cheney contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Cheney also has one of the higher rates of people living in poverty in the nation, with 33.29% of its population below the federal poverty line.Cheney is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Cheney home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Cheney residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Cheney also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.62% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Cheney include German, Irish, English, Italian, and Norwegian. The most common language spoken in Cheney is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Arabic.
