Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY-SA 3.0Holyoke’s household incomes are lower than in 85% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Holyoke is better than 13% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (A−). Poverty touches 18.0% of residents, next to 9.4% for Colorado as a whole. Working from home is the commute for 6% of workers, against 21% across Colorado.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Holyoke: the gist
Income, poverty and work: Holyoke’s grade explained
Unemployment holds Holyoke’s grade up (3.9%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 3% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Holyoke could be anywhere from D− to B−.
A workday in Holyoke: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 656 residents head out to work, 318 work right here, and 389 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,000 people are in Holyoke on a workday afternoon, 12% 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 2023, primary jobs.
Where Holyoke goes to work
Where Holyoke clocks in
4% of workers
4% 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.
The kinds of work in Holyoke
707 jobs are based in Holyoke.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Holyoke, 2013 → 2023: 717 → 707. 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 Holyoke’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Holyoke: about 22 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Holyoke workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,061 commuters (the 6% 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 Holyoke
About 28% 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.
In Holyoke, walking beats the bus
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,131 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). 5.5% of Holyoke households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Holyoke’s commuters take a bus or train.
4,381st of 5,328: where Holyoke ranks among U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,100
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Columbine Valley CO | 1,684 | $250K | 0.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Holly Hills CO | 2,572 | $122K | 6.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 147 | Acres Green CO | 2,639 | $142K | 8.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,379 | Chester WV | 2,080 | $57K | 15.6% | 13.7% | 12% | D |
| 4,380 | Wayne Township OH | 2,003 | $61K | 17.3% | 2.9% | 3% | D |
| 4,381 | Holyoke CO | 2,264 | $52K | 18.0% | 3.9% | 33% | D |
| 4,382 | Montrose MI | 1,700 | $44K | 28.9% | 2.9% | 4% | D |
| 4,383 | Newfield Township MI | 2,382 | $62K | 14.5% | 2.6% | 2% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,328 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Holyoke, 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 Holyoke: questions
What is the median household income in Holyoke?
$52,482 (±$14,956) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Holyoke?
18.0%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Holyoke?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Holyoke work?
33% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Denver (4%, 148 mi), Wray (4%, 35 mi), Haxtun (3%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Holyoke walkable?
Holyoke is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.1 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Holyoke without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Holyoke, from the people who make the trip.
More of Holyoke
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.