Montezuma Castle National Monument · Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.2 jobs for every working resident, most of Lake Montezuma works elsewhere
Only 4% work in Lake Montezuma itself; outside it, Phoenix draws the most (16%, 75 miles). Lake Montezuma has 359 jobs, against 1,918 working residents. For jobs and income Lake Montezuma is better than 39% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (D).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Lake Montezuma, in a few figures
Lake Montezuma’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Lake Montezuma is Phoenix, 75 miles away as the crow flies. 16% of working residents (308) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Lake Montezuma is a place people come home to
There are 359 jobs based in Lake Montezuma, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Lake Montezuma has about 3,400 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
41% 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 ↓
Lake Montezuma workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 25 across Arizona. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Income, poverty and work: Lake Montezuma’s grade explained
Unemployment holds Lake Montezuma’s grade up (2.4%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lake Montezuma could be anywhere from D to B+.
Short hops and long hauls from Lake Montezuma
About 41% 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.
Who works in Lake Montezuma, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 1,844 residents head out to work, 74 work right here, and 285 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,400 people are in Lake Montezuma on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
Time on the road from Lake Montezuma: about 31 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lake Montezuma workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,830 commuters (the 12% 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.
Commuting out of Lake Montezuma: the destinations
Where Lake Montezuma clocks in
16% of workers
14% of workers
9% 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.
In Lake Montezuma, 30% of jobs are in factories, building or farming
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lake Montezuma, 2014 → 2024: 336 → 359. 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 Lake Montezuma’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Lake Montezuma is a driving town
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 3.9% across Arizona.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,090 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 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). 2.8% of Lake Montezuma households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lake Montezuma’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Lake Montezuma is 2,398th among 3,692 U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,700
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 353 | Citrus Park AZ | 5,115 | $141K | 8.8% | 1.3% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 440 | Rincon Valley AZ | 6,512 | $132K | 4.1% | 1.5% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,145 | Cave Creek AZ | 5,160 | $107K | 7.2% | 2.7% | 8% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,396 | Chesaning Township MI | 4,654 | $62K | 11.3% | 3.5% | 25% | C+ |
| 2,397 | Damascus Township PA | 3,699 | $75K | 8.9% | 3.6% | 7% | C+ |
| 2,398 | Lake Montezuma AZ | 4,929 | $64K | 9.7% | 2.4% | 4% | C+ |
| 2,399 | Fort Gibson OK | 3,814 | $68K | 11.9% | 4.0% | 18% | C+ |
| 2,400 | Ghent NY | 5,210 | $82K | 16.4% | 3.5% | 13% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,692 | 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 Lake Montezuma, 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 Lake Montezuma: questions
What is the median household income in Lake Montezuma?
$64,455 (±$24,940) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lake Montezuma?
9.7%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lake Montezuma?
31 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lake Montezuma work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Phoenix (16%, 75 mi), Camp Verde (14%, 6 mi), Sedona (9%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Lake Montezuma walkable?
Lake Montezuma is more walkable than 11% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lake Montezuma without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lake Montezuma, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lake Montezuma
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.