Photo: SearchNet Media from Tucson, Arizona, USA · CC BY 2.028% of Flagstaff’s residents are college students
The trip to work takes 17 minutes on average, next to 25 for Arizona and 26 for the U.S. For jobs and income Flagstaff is better than 46% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (A+). More than half stay in Flagstaff for work; outside it, Phoenix is the main destination (8%, 115 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Flagstaff apart on work
Flagstaff’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Flagstaff is Phoenix, 115 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (2,466) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Most jobs in Flagstaff go to people who live here
Of the 36,712 jobs based in Flagstaff, 51% are held by Flagstaff residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Flagstaff are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 25 across Arizona. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Arizona worker. Time on the road ↓
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 drives the Jobs & income grade in Flagstaff
Family income holds Flagstaff’s grade up ($97,780, U.S. $99,999); the poverty rate pulls it down (13.0%, U.S. 11.9%).
Where students are 15% or more of the people the Census checks for poverty (17% here), the grade uses the rate without them: 13.0%, against 18.2% for all residents. Unemployment (5.7%) is left out here: students looking for part-time work count as unemployed. Income is ranked as median family income ($97,780), since student households pull the household median down ($71,512).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for family income and poverty, Flagstaff could be anywhere from C+ to B.
Flagstaff’s commute, mile by mile
About 29% 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.
Flagstaff on a workday afternoon
On a workday 11,538 residents head out to work, 18,635 work right here, and 18,077 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.22 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.
From Flagstaff, about 17 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Flagstaff workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 34,646 commuters (the 13% 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.
Where Flagstaff goes to work
Where Flagstaff clocks in
8% of workers
2% of workers
2% 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.
What work there is in Flagstaff: 36,712 jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Flagstaff, 2013 → 2023: 31,242 → 36,712. 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 Flagstaff’s own residents hold wherever they work.
In Flagstaff, walking beats the bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 39,960 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 79% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 34% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 6.4% of Flagstaff households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 3% of Flagstaff’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 572 U.S. towns of 54,000 to 104,000, Flagstaff comes 413th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 121 | Queen Creek AZ | 89,770 | $142K | 3.7% | 4.3% | 8% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 193 | Marana AZ | 65,523 | $113K | 4.9% | 4.5% | 13% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 247 | Avondale AZ | 100,983 | $86K | 10.9% | 3.6% | 5% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 411 | Jeffersonville Township IN | 65,369 | $62K | 14.4% | 4.9% | 21% | B− |
| 412 | Hawthorne CA | 82,741 | $76K | 15.5% | 7.9% | 6% | B− |
| 413 | Flagstaff AZ | 77,260 | $72K | 18.2% | 5.7% | 62% | B− |
| 414 | Rock Hill SC | 75,911 | $69K | 12.6% | 5.8% | 29% | B− |
| 415 | Davenport IA | 100,358 | $66K | 15.2% | 4.6% | 47% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 572 | Albany GA | 66,907 | $47K | 27.5% | 11.2% | 51% | 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 Flagstaff, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
Work in the towns next to Flagstaff
The biggest share goes to Doney Park (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Flagstaff workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flagstaff | – | B− | A+ | 17 min | $71,512 |
| Fort Valley | under 1% | B+ | D | 19 min | $125,625 |
| Doney Park | 1% | B+ | D | 22 min | $104,967 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Flagstaff’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.
- Students. 28% of residents are college students; the poverty input leaves off-campus students out (above).
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Flagstaff: questions
What is the median household income in Flagstaff?
$71,512 (±$2,375) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Flagstaff?
18.2% of residents live below the poverty line; leaving out college students, 13.0%. Arizona: 12.5%.
How long is the commute from Flagstaff?
17 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Flagstaff work?
62% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Phoenix (8%, 115 mi), Tempe (2%, 126 mi), Scottsdale (2%, 105 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Flagstaff walkable?
Flagstaff is more walkable than 97% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 12.2 out of 20, and 15% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Flagstaff without a car?
3% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. 34% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Flagstaff, from the people who make the trip.
More of Flagstaff
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.