Chinle has higher unemployment (12.0%) than 97% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Chinle D−; getting around on foot earns it B. Household incomes here are lower than in 84% of U.S. towns. Working from home is the commute for 6% of workers; Arizona has 18%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Chinle apart on work
Chinle’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Chinle is St. Michaels, 43 miles away as the crow flies. 22% of working residents (200) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Chinle than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Chinle fell from 3,010 in 2013 to 1,309 in 2023, −57%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
38% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 895 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Chinle earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Chinle is near the bottom of U.S. towns, #137 of 140 in Arizona. Household income holds Chinle’s grade up ($53,239, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chinle could be anywhere from D− to D.
How far Chinle’s workers travel
About 38% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Chinle, services account for most jobs
1,309 jobs are based in Chinle.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chinle, 2013 → 2023: 3,010 → 1,309. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Chinle’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A workday in Chinle: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 689 residents head out to work, 206 work right here, and 1,103 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,600 people are in Chinle on a workday afternoon, 10% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.46 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
22% of working residents work in St. Michaels
Where Chinle clocks in
6% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
From Chinle, about 19 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chinle workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,309 commuters (the 6% who work from home are left out). Across Arizona: 82% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
In Chinle, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Chinle is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns, #44 of 140 in Arizona. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.9% across Arizona, on an EPA index of 5.3.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,387 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 19% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 63% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.2% of Chinle households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Chinle’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,600, and where Chinle sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 348 | Citrus Park AZ | 5,115 | $141K | 8.8% | 1.3% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 890 | Kachina Village AZ | 3,212 | $90K | 4.3% | 1.7% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 900 | St. Johns AZ | 3,336 | $132K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 13% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,068 | Hayes Township MI | 4,722 | $40K | 25.4% | 19.0% | 6% | D− |
| 4,069 | San Carlos AZ | 4,973 | $56K | 40.4% | 18.2% | 56% | D− |
| 4,070 | Chinle AZ | 4,147 | $53K | 28.4% | 12.0% | 23% | D− |
| 4,071 | Alamo GA | 3,362 | $18K | 45.6% | 16.0% | 9% | D− |
| 4,072 | Ferriday LA | 2,984 | $28K | 55.0% | 21.4% | 15% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,112 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Chinle, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Chinle: questions
What is the median household income in Chinle?
$53,239 (±$10,731) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chinle?
28.4%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chinle?
19 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Chinle work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Michaels (22%, 43 mi), Phoenix (6%, 228 mi), Fort Defiance (4%, 40 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chinle walkable?
Chinle is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 5.3 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chinle without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Chinle, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chinle
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.