Photo: Greg Goebel · CC BY-SA 2.0Air Force Academy at work: jobs, income and the commute
For jobs and income Air Force Academy is better than 36% of U.S. towns (C+); for walkability it is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (B). Home is the office for 1% of workers, against 21% across Colorado. Hardly any stay in Air Force Academy for work; outside it, Denver is the main destination (20%, 53 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Air Force Academy
Air Force Academy’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Air Force Academy is Denver, 53 miles away as the crow flies. 20% of working residents (212) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Air Force Academy are quick
The average trip to work takes 12 minutes, against 25 across Colorado. That’s about 100 hours a year less on the road than the typical Colorado worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Air Force Academy workers work from home
Only 1% of workers work from home, against 21% across Colorado. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
49% 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 ↓
Most jobs in Air Force Academy pay over $40,000 a year
78% of the jobs based in Air Force Academy pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. The jobs ↓
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.
Jobs & income in Air Force Academy: the grade in detail
Job access by car holds Air Force Academy’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (18.7%, U.S. 12.5%).
Unemployment (4.6%) is left out: Air Force Academy’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, Air Force Academy could be anywhere from D to A.
Half of Air Force Academy commutes less than 50 miles
About 49% 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.
About 12 minutes each way, quicker than most of Colorado
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Air Force Academy workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,251 commuters (the 1% who work from home are left out). Across Colorado: 82% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Most jobs in Air Force Academy are in services
825 jobs are based in Air Force Academy.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Air Force Academy, 2014 → 2024: 1,051 → 825. 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 Air Force Academy’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Air Force Academy on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,032 residents head out to work, 6 work right here, and 819 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 (0.79 per resident).
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 people from Air Force Academy work
Where Air Force Academy clocks in
20% of workers
17% of workers
7% 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.
Few in Air Force Academy walk, bike or ride to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 79.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.4% across Colorado, 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 5,323 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). 3.7% of Air Force Academy households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Air Force Academy’s commuters take a bus or train.
Air Force Academy places 2,279th of 3,253 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 4,700 to 9,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Norwood NJ | 5,817 | $178K | 2.8% | 0.9% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 41 | Todd Creek CO | 5,379 | $194K | 0.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 140 | Mead CO | 7,042 | $125K | 1.4% | 2.3% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 143 | Stonegate CO | 8,906 | $159K | 3.2% | 3.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,277 | Attica Township MI | 4,729 | $75K | 13.0% | 5.6% | 2% | C+ |
| 2,278 | Cynthiana KY | 6,576 | $55K | 30.5% | 1.3% | 30% | C+ |
| 2,279 | Air Force Academy CO | 6,727 | $69K | 18.7% | 4.6% | 1% | C+ |
| 2,280 | Keene TX | 7,109 | $52K | 13.6% | 5.2% | 6% | C+ |
| 2,281 | Murray NY | 4,744 | $65K | 10.0% | 6.6% | 10% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,253 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Air Force Academy, the top three, the last and three more from Colorado.
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 Air Force Academy: questions
What is the median household income in Air Force Academy?
$69,474 (±$32,777) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Air Force Academy?
18.7%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Air Force Academy?
12 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Air Force Academy work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Denver (20%, 53 mi), Colorado Springs (17%, 10 mi), Aurora (7%, 50 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Air Force Academy walkable?
Air Force Academy is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 4.8 out of 20, and 79% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Air Force Academy without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Air Force Academy, from the people who make the trip.
More of Air Force Academy
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.