Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 3.0At 8.4%, unemployment in Fort Lupton is higher than in 90% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 7% of workers; Colorado has 21%. The two grades for Fort Lupton are C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. About one in ten work in Fort Lupton; the top destination outside it is Denver (14%, 23 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Fort Lupton
Fort Lupton makes and builds things
48% of the jobs based in Fort Lupton are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Fort Lupton residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 26%. The jobs ↓
Fort Lupton workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 33 minutes each way, against 25 across Colorado. Over a year that’s about 253 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Fort Lupton’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Fort Lupton is Denver, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 14% of working residents (747) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Most jobs in Fort Lupton pay over $40,000 a year
72% of the jobs based in Fort Lupton 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 2024, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Inside Fort Lupton’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Lupton is better than 35% of U.S. towns, #130 of 159 in Colorado. Job access by car holds Fort Lupton’s grade up (ahead of 70% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down. It also does well on household income.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Lupton could be anywhere from C− to B.
A place that makes things: 48% of Fort Lupton’s jobs are in goods
3,837 jobs are based in Fort Lupton.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Lupton, 2014 → 2024: 3,566 → 3,837. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fort Lupton’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 33 minutes to work from Fort Lupton
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Lupton workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 3,996 commuters (the 7% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Fort Lupton
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
A workday in Fort Lupton: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 4,789 residents head out to work, 454 work right here, and 3,383 people come in from elsewhere.
About 9,000 people are in Fort Lupton 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 2024, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Fort Lupton: the destinations
Where Fort Lupton clocks in
14% of workers
7% of workers
5% 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.
In Fort Lupton, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Lupton is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns, #96 of 159 in Colorado. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.4% across Colorado, on an EPA index of 7.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 4,300 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 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). 4.7% of Fort Lupton households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Fort Lupton’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Fort Lupton is 2,116th of 2,878 U.S. towns of 7,000 to 14,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Cherry Creek CO | 10,721 | $154K | 5.0% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 96 | Fairmount CO | 9,902 | $164K | 2.9% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | Timnath CO | 11,600 | $178K | 4.4% | 0.6% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,114 | Montague MA | 8,377 | $71K | 11.5% | 5.1% | 14% | C |
| 2,115 | Pleasant Township OH | 10,983 | $61K | 12.3% | 4.7% | 38% | C |
| 2,116 | Fort Lupton CO | 10,402 | $81K | 17.6% | 8.4% | 9% | C |
| 2,117 | Harvard IL | 9,504 | $68K | 11.8% | 7.6% | 13% | C |
| 2,118 | Bedford IN | 13,962 | $50K | 16.2% | 2.3% | 27% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,878 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 6% | 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 Lupton, the top three, the last and three more from Colorado.
Fort Lupton and the towns next door
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fort Lupton workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Lupton | – | C | B+ | 33 min | $80,889 |
| Dacono | under 3% | A | C+ | 32 min | $104,559 |
| Brighton | 7% | B+ | A− | 31 min | $107,679 |
| Firestone | under 3% | A | C+ | 33 min | $120,150 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Brighton. Darker towns draw more of Fort Lupton’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 2024, 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 Lupton: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Lupton?
$80,889 (±$17,011) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Lupton?
17.6%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Lupton?
33 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Lupton work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Denver (14%, 23 mi), Brighton (7%, 8 mi), Aurora (5%, 26 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fort Lupton walkable?
Fort Lupton is more walkable than 67% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Lupton without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Lupton, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Lupton
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.