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.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Cheney is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-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%). One interesting thing about the economy is that relatively large numbers of people worked from their home: 8.68% 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. Cheney is a place where college students are a big part of the character and culture of the town. Small towns have often struggled with declining populations over the past few decades, but the presence of such a large college student population has helped Cheney to fight this trend. Not only does the college population add spending and jobs to local economy, but it also contributes a very tangible, youthful energy to the town. Despite the fact that it is a small city, Cheney has quite a few people who take public transportation – mostly the bus - for their daily commute to work. This helps to fill a real need in the city for affordable transportation.The education level of Cheney ranks among the highest in the nation. Of the 25-and-older adult population in Cheney, 41.65% 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 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.
