Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Brush has higher unemployment (7.7%) than 87% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Brush itself; outside it, Fort Morgan draws the most (28%, 8 miles). Jobs and income earn Brush C−; getting around on foot earns it A−. 1% of workers have no commute at all, where Colorado as a whole has 21%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Brush: the figures worth knowing
Few Brush 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
43% 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 ↓
Brush and Fort Morgan trade workers both ways
Fort Morgan is the top workplace for Brush residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Brush come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Brush are quick
The average trip to work takes 18 minutes, against 25 across Colorado. That’s about 54 hours a year less on the road than the typical Colorado worker. Time on the road ↓
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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Brush
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brush is better than 17% of U.S. towns, #147 of 159 in Colorado. Household income holds Brush’s grade up ($73,382, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brush could be anywhere from D to B.
Brush’s commute takes about 18 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brush workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,208 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.
How many miles Brush commutes
About 43% 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.
Commuting out of Brush: the destinations
Where Brush clocks in
28% of workers
7% of workers
4% 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.
Brush quiets down on a workday
On a workday 2,066 residents head out to work, 478 work right here, and 1,062 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,300 people are in Brush on a workday afternoon, 19% fewer than live here.
0.61 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 1,540 jobs based in Brush
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brush, 2013 → 2023: 1,527 → 1,540. 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 Brush’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Brush is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brush is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns, #65 of 159 in Colorado. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 18.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.4% across Colorado, on an EPA index of 7.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,240 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 18.9% of Brush households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Brush’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Brush is 3,139th among 3,651 U.S. towns of 3,700 to 7,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Todd Creek CO | 5,379 | $194K | 0.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 86 | Genesee CO | 3,778 | $187K | 2.4% | 2.2% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 164 | Mead CO | 7,042 | $125K | 1.4% | 2.3% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,137 | Magee MS | 3,904 | $44K | 32.3% | 3.3% | 19% | C− |
| 3,138 | Kaunakakai HI | 4,360 | $76K | 13.7% | 6.7% | 39% | C− |
| 3,139 | Brush CO | 5,337 | $73K | 14.2% | 7.7% | 19% | C− |
| 3,140 | McKees Rocks PA | 5,624 | $41K | 32.1% | 10.2% | 4% | C− |
| 3,141 | Commercial Township NJ | 4,767 | $56K | 19.6% | 5.8% | 5% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,651 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Brush, 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 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 Brush: questions
What is the median household income in Brush?
$73,382 (±$8,196) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brush?
14.2%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brush?
18 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brush work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Morgan (28%, 8 mi), Denver (7%, 74 mi), Greeley (4%, 61 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brush walkable?
Brush is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.0 out of 20, and 19% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brush without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 19% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brush, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brush
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.