Crested Butte Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Depot · Photo: Int77345 · CC BY-SA 4.0Crested Butte draws 1,458 commuters a day, with 2.6 jobs for every working resident
There are 1,650 jobs in Crested Butte, against 627 working residents. The two grades for Crested Butte are B− for jobs and income and A+ for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 13.2 in Denver.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Crested Butte
Crested Butte is where the jobs are
Crested Butte has 1,650 jobs, 2.6 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 2,700 people are in town, 60% more than the 1,700 who live here. Day and night ↓
The biggest group of Crested Butte’s workers comes from Gunnison
277 of the people who work in Crested Butte live in Gunnison, 22 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Crested Butte has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Crested Butte went from 981 in 2013 to 1,650 in 2023, +68%. The jobs ↓
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 627 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Jobs & income in Crested Butte: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Crested Butte is better than 49% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Crested Butte’s grade up (3.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 6% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (13.3%) is left out: Crested Butte’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Crested Butte could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Who commutes out of Crested Butte, and who commutes in
On a workday 435 residents head out to work and 192 work right here.
About 2,700 people are in Crested Butte on a workday afternoon, 60% more 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.
The towns that send workers to Crested Butte
Where Crested Butte clocks in
12% 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.
What Crested Butte’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Crested Butte, 2013 → 2023: 981 → 1,650. 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 Crested Butte’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Crested Butte: about 14 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Crested Butte workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 436 commuters (the 32% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Crested Butte
About 34% 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.
Crested Butte 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, Crested Butte is among the most walkable U.S. towns. Both inputs place Crested Butte near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 645 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 98% 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 2.0 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 69% 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). 0.0% of Crested Butte households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Crested Butte’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,760 U.S. towns of 1,200 to 2,300, Crested Butte comes 2,246th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Hewlett Harbor NY | 1,332 | $250K | 1.9% | 7.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Columbine Valley CO | 1,684 | $250K | 0.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 721 | Perry Park CO | 1,570 | $158K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 998 | Nederland CO | 1,463 | $123K | 2.7% | 3.4% | 12% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,244 | Clyde Township MI | 2,096 | $72K | 13.2% | 1.6% | 2% | B− |
| 2,245 | Hanover Township PA | 1,696 | $56K | 11.4% | 5.2% | 6% | B− |
| 2,246 | Crested Butte CO | 1,693 | $74K | 3.2% | 13.3% | 31% | B− |
| 2,247 | Franklin Township IL | 2,205 | $88K | 12.6% | 5.7% | 3% | B− |
| 2,248 | Forrest Township IL | 1,389 | $86K | 7.9% | 1.6% | 13% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,760 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Crested Butte, 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 Crested Butte: questions
What is the median household income in Crested Butte?
$74,479 (±$41,794) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Crested Butte?
3.2%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Crested Butte?
14 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 32% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Crested Butte work?
31% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Mount Crested Butte (12%, 3 mi), Gunnison (5%, 22 mi), Denver (5%, 128 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Crested Butte walkable?
Crested Butte is among the most walkable U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 15.9 out of 20, and 63% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Crested Butte without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Crested Butte, from the people who make the trip.
More of Crested Butte
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.