Photo: Pi.1415926535 · CC BY-SA 3.0Fort Morgan has higher unemployment (6.4%) than 78% of U.S. towns
Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers (Colorado 21%). Jobs and income earn Fort Morgan C−; getting around on foot earns it A−. About two in five stay in Fort Morgan for work; outside it, Denver is the main destination (6%, 67 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Fort Morgan: the gist
Fort Morgan makes and builds things
50% of the jobs based in Fort Morgan are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Fort Morgan residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 44%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Fort Morgan are quick
The average trip to work takes 17 minutes, against 25 across Colorado. That’s about 61 hours a year less on the road than the typical Colorado worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
34% 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 ↓
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.
Fort Morgan’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fort Morgan is better than 17% of U.S. towns, #145 of 159 in Colorado. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Fort Morgan’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fort Morgan could be anywhere from D to C+.
Making and building: 50% of jobs based in Fort Morgan
7,285 jobs are based in Fort Morgan.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fort Morgan, 2014 → 2024: 7,970 → 7,285. 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 Morgan’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Fort Morgan’s commute takes about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fort Morgan workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,716 commuters (the 8% 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.
Miles to work from Fort Morgan
About 34% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Fort Morgan fills up on a workday
On a workday 3,202 residents head out to work, 2,588 work right here, and 4,697 people come in from elsewhere.
About 13,000 people are in Fort Morgan on a workday afternoon, 13% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.26 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2024, primary jobs.
The towns that employ Fort Morgan’s residents
Where Fort Morgan clocks in
6% of workers
5% 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.
Fort Morgan is easy on foot, hard by bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fort Morgan is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns, #76 of 159 in Colorado. Both inputs place Fort Morgan near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,117 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.7% of Fort Morgan households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fort Morgan’s commuters take a bus or train.
Fort Morgan is 2,394th of 2,695 U.S. towns of 8,000 to 16,000 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 66 | Cherry Creek CO | 10,721 | $154K | 5.0% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Fairmount CO | 9,902 | $164K | 2.9% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 108 | Timnath CO | 11,600 | $178K | 4.4% | 0.6% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,392 | Oneonta NY | 15,665 | $61K | 16.6% | 6.4% | 19% | C− |
| 2,393 | Sheffield AL | 9,416 | $40K | 26.6% | 5.2% | 11% | C− |
| 2,394 | Fort Morgan CO | 11,841 | $64K | 16.0% | 6.4% | 45% | C− |
| 2,395 | Niles MI | 11,665 | $51K | 17.8% | 10.8% | 13% | C− |
| 2,396 | Bolivar MO | 11,994 | $50K | 18.8% | 4.7% | 28% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,695 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 19% | 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 Morgan, 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 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 Morgan: questions
What is the median household income in Fort Morgan?
$64,158 (±$7,356) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fort Morgan?
16.0%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fort Morgan?
17 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fort Morgan work?
45% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Denver (6%, 67 mi), Greeley (5%, 53 mi), Brush (3%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2024).
Is Fort Morgan walkable?
Fort Morgan is more walkable than 77% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fort Morgan without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fort Morgan, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fort Morgan
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.