Photo: Seth Eastman (1808–1875) · Public domainMore people are out of work in Fort Defiance (11.2%) than in 96% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 3% of workers, next to 18% for Arizona as a whole. Fort Defiance grades D for jobs and income and A− for walkability. For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 1.4 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 6.7 in Phoenix.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Fort Defiance apart on work
Fort Defiance is where the jobs are
Fort Defiance has 1,325 jobs, 2.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Many of the people who work in Fort Defiance live in another state
Gallup, NM (15%), Albuquerque, NM (3%) and Farmington, NM (2%) are among the top places Fort Defiance’s workers come from. Counting only the top ten home towns, 22% of the jobs here are held by people from out of state. The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
40% 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 499 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Inside Fort Defiance’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Defiance is better than 8% of U.S. towns, #116 of 140 in Arizona. The poverty rate holds Fort Defiance’s grade up (13.3%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Defiance could be anywhere from D− to C.
Fort Defiance by day and by night
On a workday 358 residents head out to work, 141 work right here, and 1,184 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,200 people are in Fort Defiance on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
2.7 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Where Fort Defiance’s workforce comes from
Where Fort Defiance clocks in
6% of workers
5% 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.
How far Fort Defiance’s workers travel
About 40% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Most jobs in Fort Defiance are in services
1,325 jobs are based in Fort Defiance.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Defiance, 2014 → 2024: 1,454 → 1,325. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fort Defiance’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Fort Defiance: about 19 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Defiance workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,300 commuters (the 3% 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 Fort Defiance, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Defiance is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns, #12 of 140 in Arizona. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.9% across Arizona, on an EPA index of 8.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,339 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 55% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 55% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 1.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 62% 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). 10.0% of Fort Defiance households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fort Defiance’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,500, and where Fort Defiance sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 892 | Kachina Village AZ | 3,212 | $90K | 4.3% | 1.7% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 904 | St. Johns AZ | 3,336 | $132K | 4.8% | 0.0% | 23% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,281 | Clifton AZ | 3,752 | $78K | 2.5% | 0.8% | 9% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,216 | Brasher NY | 2,570 | $54K | 22.4% | 4.8% | 4% | D |
| 4,217 | Springfield Township PA | 2,634 | $57K | 17.8% | 9.3% | 5% | D |
| 4,218 | Fort Defiance AZ | 3,351 | $56K | 13.3% | 11.2% | 28% | D |
| 4,219 | Blackshear GA | 3,680 | $41K | 23.3% | 5.8% | 17% | D |
| 4,220 | Toledo IA | 2,384 | $53K | 22.2% | 6.7% | 13% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,593 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 19% | 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 Fort Defiance, 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 2024, 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 Fort Defiance: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Defiance?
$56,045 (±$5,257) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Defiance?
13.3%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Defiance?
19 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Defiance work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are St. Michaels (11%, 6 mi), Phoenix (6%, 228 mi), Gallup (5%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fort Defiance walkable?
Fort Defiance is more walkable than 84% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Defiance without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 55% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Defiance, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Defiance
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.