Photo: Mvanderkolk · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of Arvada works elsewhere
32,637 jobs are based in Arvada for 60,623 working residents. For jobs and income Arvada is better than 89% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (A−). Household incomes here are higher than in 87% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Arvada, in brief
Arvada’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
Job access by car is its strongest input (ahead of 91% of U.S. towns); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.8%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Arvada could be anywhere from A− to A.
25% of working residents work in Denver
Where Arvada clocks in
25% 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 many people are in Arvada by day
On a workday 54,607 residents head out to work, 6,016 work right here, and 26,621 people come in from elsewhere.
About 95,000 people are in Arvada on a workday afternoon, 23% 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 2023, primary jobs.
What Arvada’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Arvada, 2013 → 2023: 24,346 → 32,637. 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 Arvada’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 26 minutes in Arvada
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Arvada workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 51,328 commuters (the 24% 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.
The distance from Arvada to work
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 Arvada, walking beats the bus
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 6.4% across Colorado.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 67,979 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 65% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 15% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 2.5 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 72% 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). 3.3% of Arvada households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Arvada’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
How Arvada ranks: 27th of 334 U.S. towns of 86,000 to 166,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 3 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 9 | Highlands Ranch CO | 102,257 | $159K | 2.9% | 4.0% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 19 | Centennial CO | 108,658 | $132K | 3.3% | 4.6% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Lisle Township IL | 119,740 | $119K | 5.0% | 4.5% | 11% | A |
| 26 | Hoover AL | 93,550 | $109K | 5.1% | 3.5% | 18% | A |
| 27 | Arvada CO | 122,901 | $117K | 5.8% | 3.8% | 10% | A |
| 28 | Lehi UT | 95,313 | $131K | 5.0% | 4.0% | 17% | A |
| 29 | Troy MI | 88,733 | $120K | 5.4% | 4.4% | 20% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 31 | Boulder CO | 105,689 | $87K | 21.5% | 6.0% | 44% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 334 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | 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 Arvada, the top three, the last and three more from Colorado.
How Arvada compares with the towns next door
The biggest share goes to Westminster (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Arvada workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arvada | – | A | A− | 26 min | $117,348 |
| Fairmount | under 3% | A+ | B+ | 23 min | $163,600 |
| Wheat Ridge | 3% | B+ | A | 23 min | $90,564 |
| Westminster | 5% | A− | A− | 27 min | $100,272 |
| Berkley | under 3% | B− | A | 27 min | $84,637 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Arvada’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 Arvada: questions
What is the median household income in Arvada?
$117,348 (±$3,724) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Arvada?
5.8%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Arvada?
26 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Arvada work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Denver (25%, 15 mi), Lakewood (10%, 10 mi), Westminster (5%, 6 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Arvada walkable?
Arvada is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Arvada without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 15% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Arvada, from the people who make the trip.
More of Arvada
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.