US Post Office and Federal Building-Delta Main · Photo: Jeffrey Beall from Colorado, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Delta have lower incomes than those in 93% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Delta is better than 14% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (A). Poverty touches 20.5% of residents (Colorado 9.4%). 10% of workers work from home, next to 21% for Colorado as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Delta
Delta trades workers with the towns around it
Delta has about as many jobs (3,791) as working residents (3,245), but they are mostly different people: 2,341 residents leave for work each day while 2,887 people come in. Only 24% of the jobs in Delta are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Delta’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Delta is Montrose, 24 miles away as the crow flies. 15% of working residents (474) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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.
Why Delta gets the Jobs & income grade it does
Unemployment holds Delta’s grade up (3.7%, U.S. 5.2%); household income pulls it down ($45,250, U.S. $80,734).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Delta could be anywhere from D− to C.
Who works in Delta, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 2,341 residents head out to work, 904 work right here, and 2,887 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.17 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Short hops and long hauls from Delta
About 22% 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.
15% of working residents work in Montrose
Where Delta clocks in
15% of workers
10% of workers
2% 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.
Jobs in Delta: what the 3,791 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Delta, 2013 → 2023: 3,241 → 3,791. 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 Delta’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 21 minutes from Delta
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Delta workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,124 commuters (the 10% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Delta
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 3,475 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 32% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 32% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 8.4% of Delta households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Delta’s commuters take a bus or train.
Delta next to U.S. towns of 6,900 to 13,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 61 | Cherry Creek CO | 10,721 | $154K | 5.0% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 93 | Fairmount CO | 9,902 | $164K | 2.9% | 2.8% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 103 | Timnath CO | 11,600 | $178K | 4.4% | 0.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,474 | Commerce TX | 9,928 | $44K | 23.4% | 6.5% | 24% | D |
| 2,475 | Springfield VT | 8,881 | $67K | 14.8% | 8.2% | 32% | D |
| 2,476 | Delta CO | 9,802 | $45K | 20.5% | 3.7% | 28% | D |
| 2,477 | Rayne LA | 6,995 | $42K | 25.5% | 7.2% | 11% | D |
| 2,478 | West Monroe LA | 12,478 | $49K | 26.3% | 9.6% | 21% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,734 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 Delta, 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 Delta: questions
What is the median household income in Delta?
$45,250 (±$7,512) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Delta?
20.5%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Delta?
21 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 10% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Delta work?
28% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Montrose (15%, 24 mi), Grand Junction (10%, 34 mi), Denver (2%, 185 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Delta walkable?
Delta is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.7 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Delta without a car?
2% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. 32% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Delta, from the people who make the trip.
More of Delta
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.