Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0Loma has higher household incomes than 94% of U.S. towns
2% of workers have no commute at all, where Colorado as a whole has 21%. The poverty rate is 5.9%; Colorado has 9.4%. Loma grades B+ for jobs and income and D− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Loma apart on work
More than half of Loma works in Grand Junction
260 working residents, 53%, have their main job in Grand Junction, 15 miles away. That’s 53 times as many as work in Loma itself. The commute map ↓
Loma is a place people come home to
There are 138 jobs based in Loma, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Loma has about 1,000 people in it, 26% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Few Loma workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 21% across Colorado. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 493 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Loma
On income, poverty and job access, Loma is better than 69% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Loma’s grade up ($141,023, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 20% of U.S. towns). It also does well on the poverty rate.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Loma’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Loma could be anywhere from C− to A−.
53% of working residents work in Grand Junction
Where Loma clocks in
53% of workers
10% 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.
The daily flow of workers through Loma
On a workday 488 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 133 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Loma on a workday afternoon, 26% fewer than live here.
0.28 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.
The daily trip from Loma: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Loma workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 612 commuters (the 2% 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.
52% of the jobs in Loma make or build things
138 jobs are based in Loma.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Loma, 2013 → 2023: 131 → 138. 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 Loma’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How far it is to work from Loma
About 24% 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.
Most trips from Loma start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Loma is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Loma 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 624 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% 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 under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 0.0% of Loma households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Loma’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800, Loma ranks 968th of 5,400 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 7 | Columbine Valley CO | 1,684 | $250K | 0.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 317 | Aetna Estates CO | 1,010 | $75K | 1.1% | 0.5% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 572 | Perry Park CO | 1,570 | $158K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 966 | Bridgeport WI | 1,006 | $96K | 2.1% | 2.4% | 8% | B+ |
| 967 | Shandon CA | 1,169 | $107K | 1.6% | 10.4% | 1% | B+ |
| 968 | Loma CO | 1,350 | $141K | 5.9% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| 969 | Jerome IL | 1,627 | $65K | 6.4% | 2.8% | 1% | B+ |
| 970 | Bevil Oaks TX | 1,042 | $91K | 7.7% | 6.8% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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 Loma, the top three, the last and three more from Colorado.
10% of Loma works in a bordering town
Jobs & commute next door
The biggest share goes to Fruita. Darker towns draw more of Loma’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 Loma: questions
What is the median household income in Loma?
$141,023 (±$88,626) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Loma?
5.9%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Loma?
17 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Loma work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Grand Junction (53%, 15 mi), Fruita (10%, 5 mi), Denver (5%, 213 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Loma walkable?
Loma is near the bottom of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 2.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Loma without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Loma, from the people who make the trip.
More of Loma
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.