Photo: C caudill1 · CC BY-SA 4.0Del Norte’s household incomes are lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D−: better than 2% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability A: more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns.
Working residents average 18 minutes each way (Colorado 25, U.S. 26). About one in five work in Del Norte; the top destination outside it is Alamosa (9%, 30 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from Del Norte
Del Norte’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Del Norte is Alamosa, 30 miles away as the crow flies. 9% of working residents (65) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% 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 ↓
Fewer than half of Del Norte workers earn over $40,000 a year
41% of Del Norte’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 20% earn $1,250 a month or less. 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 714 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Del Norte’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Del Norte is better than 2% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Del Norte’s grade.
Unemployment (6.8%) is left out: Del Norte’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, Del Norte could be anywhere from D− to D.
Half of Del Norte commutes less than 22 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 31% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
524 jobs are based in Del Norte. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Del Norte’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Del Norte, 2013 → 2023: 467 → 524. 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.
Del Norte quiets down on a workday
On a workday 572 residents head out to work, 142 work right here, and 382 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,200 people are in Del Norte on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.73 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.
9% of working residents work in Alamosa
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Del Norte clocks in
9% of workers
8% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
About 18 minutes each way, quicker than most of Colorado
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Del Norte workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 723 commuters (the 11% who work from home are left out). Across Colorado: 82% drive alone, 2% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Del Norte 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, Del Norte is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 12.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.4% across Colorado, on an EPA index of 8.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 810 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). 7.9% of Del Norte households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Del Norte’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Del Norte compares with U.S. towns of 1,000 to 1,900
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Del Norte, the top three, the last and three more from Colorado.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Columbine Valley CO | 1,684 | $250K | 0.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 356 | Aetna Estates CO | 1,010 | $75K | 1.1% | 0.5% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 632 | Perry Park CO | 1,570 | $158K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,594 | Naco AZ | 1,060 | $58K | 33.0% | 8.1% | 1% | D− |
| 5,595 | Fowler CO | 1,171 | $44K | 18.5% | 1.5% | 9% | D− |
| 5,596 | Del Norte CO | 1,396 | $41K | 18.5% | 6.8% | 20% | D− |
| 5,597 | Twin City GA | 1,702 | $40K | 32.9% | 4.1% | 9% | D− |
| 5,598 | Culver IN | 1,256 | $43K | 36.7% | 6.8% | 18% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,877 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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.
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 Del Norte: questions
What is the median household income in Del Norte?
$40,700 (±$7,687) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Del Norte?
18.5%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Del Norte?
18 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Del Norte work?
20% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alamosa (9%, 30 mi), Monte Vista (8%, 13 mi), Denver (4%, 164 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Del Norte walkable?
Del Norte is more walkable than 87% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.0 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Del Norte without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Del Norte, from the people who make the trip.
More of Del Norte
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.