Photo: Billy Hathorn · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Fowler trail those of 93% of U.S. towns
18.5% of residents are in poverty, against 9.4% across Colorado. Fowler grades D− for jobs and income and A for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident at the evening peak, against 13.2 in Denver.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Fowler apart
A big share show a job far from home
45% 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 ↓
Fowler’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Fowler is Pueblo, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 13% of working residents (64) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
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 492 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Fowler’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty and job access, Fowler is better than 2% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Fowler’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (1.5%) is left out: Fowler’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Fowler could be anywhere from D− to C−.
Short hops and long hauls from Fowler
About 45% 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.
The daily commute in and out of Fowler
On a workday 449 residents head out to work, 43 work right here, and 126 people come in from elsewhere.
About 850 people are in Fowler on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
0.34 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 2023, primary jobs.
13% of working residents work in Pueblo
Where Fowler clocks in
13% of workers
11% of workers
6% 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.
What work there is in Fowler: 169 jobs
169 jobs are based in Fowler.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fowler, 2013 → 2023: 269 → 169. 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 Fowler’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 25 minutes each way for Fowler’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fowler workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 357 commuters (the 9% 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 Fowler, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fowler is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Fowler 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 391 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). Nearly all residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 47% 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). 9.4% of Fowler households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Fowler’s commuters take a bus or train.
Fowler next to U.S. towns of 800 to 1,600
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 245 | Aetna Estates CO | 1,010 | $75K | 1.1% | 0.5% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 440 | Perry Park CO | 1,570 | $158K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 612 | Nederland CO | 1,463 | $123K | 2.7% | 3.4% | 12% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,108 | Appalachia VA | 1,369 | $43K | 28.3% | 13.1% | 4% | D− |
| 4,109 | Naco AZ | 1,060 | $58K | 33.0% | 8.1% | 1% | D− |
| 4,110 | Fowler CO | 1,171 | $44K | 18.5% | 1.5% | 9% | D− |
| 4,111 | Del Norte CO | 1,396 | $41K | 18.5% | 6.8% | 20% | D− |
| 4,112 | Culver IN | 1,256 | $43K | 36.7% | 6.8% | 18% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,312 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Fowler, 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 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 Fowler: questions
What is the median household income in Fowler?
$44,048 (±$21,859) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fowler?
18.5%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fowler?
25 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fowler work?
9% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Pueblo (13%, 33 mi), Colorado Springs (11%, 65 mi), Denver (6%, 122 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fowler walkable?
Fowler is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 10.3 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fowler without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fowler, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fowler
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.