Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Denver’s household incomes are higher than in 73% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 11.2% of residents, where Colorado as a whole has 9.4%. Jobs and income earn Denver B+; getting around on foot earns it A+. About two in five work in Denver itself; outside it, Aurora draws the most (9%, 9 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Denver stands out on work
Denver is where the jobs are
Denver has 523,496 jobs, 1.5 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Most jobs in Denver pay over $40,000 a year
75% of the jobs based in Denver pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. 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.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Denver
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Denver is better than 69% of U.S. towns, #78 of 159 in Colorado. Job access by car holds Denver’s grade up (ahead of 94% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (4.9%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on household income.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Denver stays B+.
Who works in Denver, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 188,450 residents head out to work, 153,594 work right here, and 369,902 people come in from elsewhere.
About 922,000 people are in Denver on a workday afternoon, 25% more than live here.
1.5 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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.
75% of the jobs in Denver pay over $3,333 a month
523,496 jobs are based in Denver.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Denver, 2013 → 2023: 425,002 → 523,496. 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 Denver’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the people who work in Denver live
Where Denver clocks in
9% of workers
3% 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.
Time on the road from Denver: about 25 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Denver workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 305,061 commuters (the 27% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Denver
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.
Denver is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 419,619 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 96% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 53% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 13.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 96% 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). 10.3% of Denver households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 5% of Denver’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Ranked on jobs and income, Denver is 5th among 26 U.S. towns of 518,000 to 1,000,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hempstead NY | 795,734 | $141K | 5.9% | 5.2% | 28% | A |
| 2 | San Jose CA | 989,814 | $146K | 8.1% | 5.1% | 36% | A− |
| 3 | Seattle WA | 784,777 | $124K | 9.9% | 4.6% | 60% | A− |
| 4 | San Francisco CA | 826,079 | $141K | 11.2% | 6.1% | 57% | B+ |
| 5 | Denver CO | 740,613 | $95K | 11.2% | 4.9% | 45% | B+ |
| 6 | Charlotte NC | 964,784 | $82K | 11.7% | 4.6% | 64% | B |
| 7 | Washington DC | 693,645 | $110K | 15.4% | 6.3% | 69% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Detroit MI | 649,095 | $40K | 32.7% | 14.0% | 31% | C− |
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 Denver, the top three, the last and three more from Colorado.
Bordering towns draw 19% of Denver’s workers
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Denver workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | – | B+ | A+ | 25 min | $94,718 |
| Lakewood | 4% | B+ | A | 26 min | $89,792 |
| Aurora | 9% | B | A | 29 min | $88,368 |
| Four Square Mile | under 2% | B | A | 25 min | $80,903 |
| Englewood | 2% | A− | A+ | 23 min | $86,800 |
| Bow Mar | under 2% | — | — | 25 min | — |
| North Washington | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| Commerce City | 1% | A− | A− | 30 min | $111,972 |
| Berkley | under 2% | B− | A | 27 min | $84,637 |
| Littleton | under 2% | A | A | 25 min | $98,839 |
| Greenwood Village | 3% | A+ | A | 20 min | $149,029 |
Same-state neighbors only. Bow Mar: not graded. North Washington: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Aurora. Darker towns draw more of Denver’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Denver: questions
What is the median household income in Denver?
$94,718 (±$1,644) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Denver?
11.2%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Denver?
25 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 27% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Denver work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Aurora (9%, 9 mi), Lakewood (4%, 13 mi), Greenwood Village (3%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Denver walkable?
Denver is more walkable than 98% of U.S. towns (Walkability A+): an EPA walkability index of 14.5 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Denver without a car?
5% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. 53% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Denver, from the people who make the trip.
More of Denver
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.