Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY-SA 3.0Making a living in Blanca
2% of workers work from home (Colorado 21%). About one in ten work in Blanca itself; outside it, Fort Garland draws the most (10%, 4 miles). Working residents average 18 minutes each way, next to 25 for Colorado and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Blanca by day and by night
On a workday 92 residents head out to work, 10 work right here, and 66 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.
0.75 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.
The towns that employ Blanca’s residents
Where Blanca clocks in
10% of workers
7% 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.
A place that makes things: 45% of Blanca’s jobs are in goods
76 jobs are based in Blanca.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Blanca, 2013 → 2023: 200 → 76. 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 Blanca’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Blanca’s commute takes about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Blanca workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 84 commuters (the 2% 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.
How far Blanca’s workers travel
About 44% 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.
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 Blanca: questions
What is the median household income in Blanca?
$68,000 (±$40,598) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Blanca?
12.2%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Blanca?
18 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Blanca work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Garland (10%, 4 mi), Alamosa (7%, 20 mi), Colorado Springs (5%, 107 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Blanca without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Blanca, from the people who make the trip.
More of Blanca
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.