Photo: Judith Arsenault · CC BY-SA 2.0Flagstaff draws about half of Mountainaire’s working residents
Hardly any stay in Mountainaire for work; outside it, Flagstaff is the main destination (46%, 7 miles). The two grades for Mountainaire are B+ for jobs and income and C for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 85% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Mountainaire apart
Nearly half of Mountainaire works in Flagstaff
168 working residents, 46%, have their main job in Flagstaff, 6.6 miles away. That’s far more as work in Mountainaire itself. The commute map ↓
Mountainaire is a place people come home to
There are 67 jobs based in Mountainaire, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Mountainaire has about 800 people in it, 27% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 367 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Mountainaire’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty and job access, Mountainaire is better than 72% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Mountainaire’s grade up ($111,891, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 30% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (5.7%) is left out: Mountainaire’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Mountainaire could be anywhere from C+ to A.
Where Mountainaire goes to work
Where Mountainaire clocks in
46% of workers
13% of workers
3% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Mountainaire
On a workday 366 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 66 people come in from elsewhere.
About 800 people are in Mountainaire on a workday afternoon, 27% fewer than live here.
0.18 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.
Where in the region Mountainaire works
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 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Mountainaire, services account for most jobs
67 jobs are based in Mountainaire.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mountainaire, 2013 → 2023: 32 → 67. 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 Mountainaire’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 21 minutes each way, quicker than most of Arizona
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mountainaire workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 464 commuters (the 24% 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.
Getting around Mountainaire: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mountainaire is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.9% across Arizona, on an EPA index of 4.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 608 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). 1.1% of Mountainaire households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mountainaire’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Mountainaire ranks: 549th of 3,771 U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 547 | Washington Township IN | 1,124 | $74K | 1.5% | 3.1% | 5% | B+ |
| 548 | Bearfield Township OH | 1,478 | $106K | 8.1% | 0.0% | 2% | B+ |
| 549 | Mountainaire AZ | 1,103 | $112K | 5.2% | 5.7% | <1% | B+ |
| 550 | Springfield Township IN | 1,192 | $96K | 3.7% | 8.2% | 1% | B+ |
| 551 | Ida Township MN | 1,432 | $103K | 2.7% | 4.4% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,772 | North Fork AZ | 1,463 | $123K | 13.5% | 5.8% | 0% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,222 | Strawberry AZ | 1,094 | $60K | 5.7% | 0.0% | 2% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,541 | Tubac AZ | 1,294 | $73K | 13.4% | 0.0% | 8% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Mountainaire, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
How Mountainaire compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Mountainaire workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountainaire | – | B+ | C | 21 min | $111,891 |
| Kachina Village | under 2% | A− | D | 28 min | $90,375 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Mountainaire’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 Mountainaire: questions
What is the median household income in Mountainaire?
$111,891 (±$32,424) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mountainaire?
5.2%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mountainaire?
21 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mountainaire work?
<1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Flagstaff (46%, 7 mi), Phoenix (13%, 108 mi), Winslow (3%, 53 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mountainaire walkable?
Mountainaire is more walkable than 29% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mountainaire without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mountainaire, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mountainaire
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.