Photo: Ron Reiring · CC BY-SA 2.0Unemployment in Clifton (0.8%) is lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income B+: better than 70% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #27 of 140 in Arizona.
Walkability C: more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns · #99 of 140 in Arizona.
Household incomes here are higher than in 54% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 21 minutes each way (Arizona 25, U.S. 26). Only 8% work in Clifton; the top destination outside it is Morenci (56%, 4 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Clifton, in brief
More than half of Clifton works in Morenci
674 working residents, 56%, have their main job in Morenci, 3.5 miles away across the town line. That’s 7 times as many as work in Clifton itself. The commute map ↓
Few Clifton workers work from home
Only 0% of workers work from home, against 18% across Arizona. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Most Clifton residents work close to home
65% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home, about two in three. How far ↓
The better-paid jobs are outside Clifton
71% of Clifton residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, but only 50% of the jobs based in Clifton pay that much. Most residents work elsewhere: 92% leave town for their job. The jobs ↓
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.
What’s behind Clifton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Clifton is better than 70% of U.S. towns, #27 of 140 in Arizona. Unemployment holds Clifton’s grade up (0.8%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Clifton could be anywhere from B− to A−.
56% of working residents work in Morenci
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Clifton clocks in
56% of workers
7% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
About 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of Arizona
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Clifton workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,575 commuters (the 0% who work from home are left out). Across Arizona: 82% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Half of Clifton commutes less than 2 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 27% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
420 jobs are based in Clifton. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Clifton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Clifton, 2013 → 2023: 389 → 420. 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.
Clifton quiets down on a workday
On a workday 1,111 residents head out to work, 96 work right here, and 324 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,000 people are in Clifton on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
0.35 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Most trips from Clifton start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Clifton is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns, #99 of 140 in Arizona. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.9% across Arizona, on an EPA index of 5.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,575 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 0.0% of Clifton households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Clifton’s commuters take a bus or train.
Clifton is 1,289th of 4,430 U.S. towns of 2,600 to 5,100 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Clifton, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 917 | Kachina Village AZ | 3,212 | $90K | 4.3% | 1.7% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 927 | St. Johns AZ | 3,336 | $132K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 13% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,287 | Montgomery GA | 4,976 | $91K | 12.0% | 2.6% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,288 | Simonton Lake IN | 4,248 | $76K | 11.5% | 1.7% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,289 | Clifton AZ | 3,752 | $78K | 2.5% | 0.8% | 8% | B+ |
| 1,290 | Manchester Township IN | 3,345 | $97K | 6.1% | 3.0% | 2% | B+ |
| 1,291 | Olive Township IN | 4,337 | $79K | 3.5% | 4.4% | 11% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,635 | Carefree AZ | 3,600 | $147K | 11.3% | 3.8% | 8% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 4,430 | 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.
56% of Clifton works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Morenci (56%). Darker towns draw more of Clifton’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Clifton: questions
What is the median household income in Clifton?
$78,480 (±$8,362) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Clifton?
2.5%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Clifton?
21 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Clifton work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Morenci (56%, 4 mi), Phoenix (7%, 166 mi), Tucson (3%, 110 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Clifton walkable?
Clifton is more walkable than 32% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.2 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Clifton without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Clifton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Clifton
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.