Photo: Fish Cop · Public domainFort Carson’s household incomes are lower than in 64% of U.S. towns
Home is the office for 2% of workers, where Colorado as a whole has 21%. 15.3% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 9.4% for Colorado as a whole. Jobs and income earn Fort Carson B−; getting around on foot earns it B+.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Fort Carson
A big share show a job far from home
71% 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 ↓
Commutes from Fort Carson are quick
The average trip to work takes 11 minutes, against 25 across Colorado. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical Colorado worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Fort Carson workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 21% across Colorado. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
Fort Carson and Colorado Springs trade workers both ways
Colorado Springs is the top workplace for Fort Carson residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Fort Carson come from (39% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Nearly all the work in Fort Carson is services
92% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 4% are in factories, building or farms. 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 Fort Carson
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Carson is better than 45% of U.S. towns, #116 of 159 in Colorado. Job access by car holds Fort Carson’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down. It also does well on unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Carson could be anywhere from C− to B+.
How far Fort Carson goes to work
About 71% 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.
From Fort Carson, about 11 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Carson workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 11,287 commuters (the 2% 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.
18% of working residents work in Colorado Springs
Where Fort Carson clocks in
18% of workers
17% of workers
9% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
2,231 jobs are based in Fort Carson.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Carson, 2013 → 2023: 1,424 → 2,231. 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 Fort Carson’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who leaves Fort Carson for work, and who comes in
On a workday 2,744 residents head out to work, 56 work right here, and 2,175 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 (0.80 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.
In Fort Carson, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Carson is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns, #82 of 159 in Colorado. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 26.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.4% across Colorado, on an EPA index of 6.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 11,472 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 1.4 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 63% 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). 1.4% of Fort Carson households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Fort Carson’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Fort Carson is 1,249th among 1,822 U.S. towns of 13,000 to 24,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Plain Township OH | 13,257 | $219K | 2.1% | 0.8% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Rogers MN | 15,606 | $159K | 1.9% | 1.2% | 10% | A+ |
| 3 | Trophy Club TX | 13,695 | $201K | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 78 | Greenwood Village CO | 15,323 | $149K | 3.1% | 3.3% | 13% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 162 | Superior CO | 13,637 | $159K | 3.2% | 3.7% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 176 | Lone Tree CO | 15,278 | $124K | 4.9% | 3.0% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,247 | Kilgore TX | 13,531 | $66K | 17.4% | 3.3% | 21% | B− |
| 1,248 | Sweetwater FL | 20,828 | $55K | 16.3% | 4.4% | 5% | B− |
| 1,249 | Fort Carson CO | 18,019 | $66K | 15.3% | 3.7% | 2% | B− |
| 1,250 | Kingsburg CA | 13,249 | $77K | 10.8% | 7.3% | 16% | C+ |
| 1,251 | Bridgeview IL | 16,521 | $67K | 12.8% | 7.6% | 6% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,822 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Fort Carson, the top three, the last and three more from Colorado.
Fort Carson and the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fort Carson workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Carson | – | B− | B+ | 11 min | $66,237 |
| Fountain | 2% | B− | B− | 27 min | $86,242 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Fountain. Darker towns draw more of Fort Carson’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 Fort Carson: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Carson?
$66,237 (±$8,406) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Carson?
15.3%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Carson?
11 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Carson work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Colorado Springs (18%, 12 mi), Denver (17%, 75 mi), Aurora (9%, 71 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fort Carson walkable?
Fort Carson is more walkable than 75% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.2 out of 20, and 26% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Carson without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Carson, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Carson
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.