Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0More people are out of work in La Junta (7.9%) than in 88% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are lower than in 85% of U.S. towns. La Junta grades D− for jobs and income and A− for walkability. Transit is limited for a town this walkable: about 0.1 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
Where La Junta stands out on work
Why La Junta gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, La Junta is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #155 of 159 in Colorado. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides La Junta’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, La Junta could be anywhere from D− to C−.
How far La Junta’s workers travel
About 38% 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.
How a workday changes La Junta
On a workday 1,633 residents head out to work, 1,058 work right here, and 1,790 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.06 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
6% of working residents work in Colorado Springs
Where La Junta clocks in
6% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
La Junta is a services town
2,848 jobs are based in La Junta.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in La Junta, 2013 → 2023: 2,930 → 2,848. 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 La Junta’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from La Junta: about 22 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of La Junta workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,556 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.
Good to walk, short on transit: La Junta
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, La Junta is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns, #72 of 159 in Colorado. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 6.4% across Colorado.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 2,752 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 45% 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 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 42% 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). 8.6% of La Junta households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of La Junta’s commuters take a bus or train.
How La Junta compares with U.S. towns of 4,800 to 9,300
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Glendale MO | 6,060 | $171K | 2.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Todd Creek CO | 5,379 | $194K | 0.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 144 | Mead CO | 7,042 | $125K | 1.4% | 2.3% | 4% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 147 | Stonegate CO | 8,906 | $159K | 3.2% | 3.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,169 | Linton IN | 5,245 | $45K | 17.3% | 13.3% | 22% | D− |
| 3,170 | Winslow AZ | 8,464 | $58K | 29.8% | 8.9% | 42% | D− |
| 3,171 | La Junta CO | 6,864 | $52K | 27.4% | 7.9% | 39% | D− |
| 3,172 | Corry PA | 5,993 | $49K | 25.9% | 9.8% | 44% | D− |
| 3,173 | Ripley TN | 7,499 | $37K | 30.7% | 8.2% | 27% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,229 | Shiprock NM | 7,610 | $36K | 34.6% | 14.9% | 14% | 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 La Junta, 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 La Junta: questions
What is the median household income in La Junta?
$52,315 (±$7,059) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in La Junta?
27.4%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from La Junta?
22 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in La Junta work?
39% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Colorado Springs (6%, 90 mi), Pueblo (5%, 61 mi), Denver (4%, 142 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is La Junta walkable?
La Junta is more walkable than 78% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 9.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around La Junta 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 La Junta, from the people who make the trip.
More of La Junta
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.