Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0Making a living in Dolores
Working residents average 16 minutes each way, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home; Colorado has 21%. About one in ten stay in Dolores for work; outside it, Cortez is the main destination (26%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Dolores apart
Dolores and Cortez trade workers both ways
Cortez is the top workplace for Dolores residents (26%) and also where the most people who work in Dolores come from (19% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Commutes from Dolores are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 25 across Colorado. That’s about 69 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; with 281 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Dolores goes to work
Where Dolores clocks in
26% of workers
8% 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.
Each way, about 16 minutes from Dolores
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dolores workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 446 commuters (the 12% 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.
In and out of Dolores on a workday
On a workday 252 residents head out to work, 29 work right here, and 337 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 (1.30 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.
The 366 jobs based in Dolores
366 jobs are based in Dolores.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dolores, 2013 → 2023: 281 → 366. 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 Dolores’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Dolores works
About 26% 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.
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 Dolores: questions
What is the median household income in Dolores?
$34,861 (±$16,397) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dolores?
7.3%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dolores?
16 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dolores work?
10% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cortez (26%, 10 mi), Durango (8%, 37 mi), Mountain Village (2%, 47 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Dolores without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 28% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Dolores, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dolores
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.