Photo: Dennis Adams, Federal Highway Administration; color-corrected by Howcheng. · Public domainFewer people are out of work in Leadville (3.1%) than in 68% of U.S. towns
For 13% of workers, the job is at home, against 21% across Colorado. Leadville grades C+ for jobs and income and A for walkability. About one in five work in Leadville; the top destination outside it is Copper Mountain (7%, 17 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Leadville
Leadville has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Leadville went from 715 in 2013 to 1,175 in 2023, +64%. The jobs ↓
A big share show a job far from home
32% 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 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Leadville’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Leadville is better than 39% of U.S. towns, #124 of 159 in Colorado. Unemployment holds Leadville’s grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 4% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Leadville could be anywhere from D to B+.
What Leadville’s employers do
1,175 jobs are based in Leadville.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Leadville, 2013 → 2023: 715 → 1,175. 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 Leadville’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Half of Leadville commutes less than 28 miles
About 32% 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 Leadville
On a workday 1,348 residents head out to work, 311 work right here, and 864 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,200 people are in Leadville on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.71 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.
Commuting out of Leadville: the destinations
Where Leadville clocks in
7% of workers
5% 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.
Leadville’s commute takes about 26 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Leadville workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,560 commuters (the 13% 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 Leadville, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Leadville is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns, #18 of 159 in Colorado. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 21.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.4% across Colorado, on an EPA index of 9.9.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,790 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). 0.7% of Leadville households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Leadville’s commuters take a bus or train.
Leadville places 2,783rd of 4,797 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 1,900 to 3,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Stepping Stone CO | 3,137 | $224K | 0.0% | 2.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 68 | Holly Hills CO | 2,572 | $122K | 6.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 143 | Acres Green CO | 2,639 | $142K | 8.0% | 1.0% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,781 | Ord NE | 2,121 | $58K | 11.1% | 0.5% | 46% | C+ |
| 2,782 | Burnham PA | 1,970 | $68K | 8.6% | 1.8% | 10% | C+ |
| 2,783 | Leadville CO | 2,668 | $86K | 13.5% | 3.1% | 19% | C+ |
| 2,784 | Bottineau ND | 2,152 | $66K | 12.0% | 1.7% | 42% | C+ |
| 2,785 | Tomahawk WI | 3,387 | $60K | 12.5% | 1.5% | 26% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,797 | Cibecue AZ | 2,228 | $26K | 57.2% | 13.3% | 12% | 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 Leadville, the top three, the last and three more from Colorado.
The towns around Leadville
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Leadville workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leadville | – | C+ | A | 26 min | $86,350 |
| Leadville North | under 3% | B | B− | 22 min | $97,604 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Leadville’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Leadville: questions
What is the median household income in Leadville?
$86,350 (±$36,202) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Leadville?
13.5%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Leadville?
26 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 13% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Leadville work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Copper Mountain (7%, 17 mi), Denver (5%, 83 mi), Vail (4%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Leadville walkable?
Leadville is more walkable than 95% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 9.9 out of 20, and 21% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Leadville without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Leadville, from the people who make the trip.
More of Leadville
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.