Medano Ranch Headquarters · Photo: User:Magicpiano · CC BY-SA 4.0Hooper draws 73 commuters a day, with 2.1 jobs for every working resident
Only 6% work in Hooper itself; outside it, Alamosa draws the most (17%, 19 miles). There are 75 jobs in Hooper; 36 of its residents have a job. Home is the office for 15% of workers; Colorado has 21%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes Hooper
On a workday 34 residents head out to work and 2 work right here.
About 120 people are in Hooper on a workday afternoon, 51% more than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting in to Hooper: where workers come from
Where Hooper clocks in
17% 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 Hooper
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Hooper, 2013 → 2023: 9 → 75. 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 Hooper’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Time on the road from Hooper: about 54 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 17.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Hooper workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 29 commuters (the 15% 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.
Short hops and long hauls from Hooper
About 36% 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.
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 Hooper: questions
What is the median household income in Hooper?
$46,875 (±$13,925) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Hooper?
23.0%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Hooper?
54 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Hooper work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alamosa (17%, 19 mi), Saguache (3%, 28 mi), Mancos (3%, 135 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Hooper without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Hooper, from the people who make the trip.
More of Hooper
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.