Photo: Carol M. Highsmith · Public domainMancos has lower household incomes than 65% of U.S. towns
About one in five work in Mancos; the top destination outside it is Cortez (15%, 16 miles). 10.7% of residents live below the poverty line, next to 9.4% for Colorado as a whole. The two grades for Mancos are C− for jobs and income and B+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Mancos apart
Mancos and Cortez trade workers both ways
Cortez is the top workplace for Mancos residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in Mancos come from (13% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Many jobs in Mancos pay little
35% of the jobs based in Mancos pay $1,250 a month or less, under $15,000 a year. The jobs ↓
Mancos has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Mancos went from 333 in 2013 to 528 in 2023, +59%. The jobs ↓
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 426 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Inside Mancos’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Mancos is better than 21% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Mancos’ grade up; job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 8% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (2.4%) is left out: Mancos’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Mancos could be anywhere from D to C+.
Commuting out of Mancos: the destinations
Where Mancos clocks in
15% of workers
11% 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.
Inside Mancos’ 528 jobs
528 jobs are based in Mancos.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mancos, 2013 → 2023: 333 → 528. 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 Mancos’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How many people are in Mancos by day
On a workday 336 residents head out to work, 90 work right here, and 438 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 (1.24 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.
Commuting from Mancos: about 23 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mancos workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 479 commuters (the 14% 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.
How far Mancos goes to work
About 21% 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.
Driving is how Mancos gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mancos is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.4% across Colorado, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 559 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). 3.2% of Mancos households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mancos’ commuters take a bus or train.
How Mancos ranks: 3,278th of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 282 | Aetna Estates CO | 1,010 | $75K | 1.1% | 0.5% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 503 | Perry Park CO | 1,570 | $158K | 3.2% | 2.5% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,276 | Hawes Township MI | 1,111 | $68K | 10.2% | 5.5% | 3% | C− |
| 3,277 | Deerfield Township OH | 1,059 | $79K | 22.3% | 2.4% | <1% | C− |
| 3,278 | Mancos CO | 1,266 | $66K | 10.7% | 2.4% | 21% | C− |
| 3,279 | Coon Rapids IA | 1,251 | $76K | 14.6% | 2.0% | 21% | C− |
| 3,280 | Wyanet Township IL | 1,201 | $63K | 14.2% | 2.6% | 3% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Mancos, 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 Mancos: questions
What is the median household income in Mancos?
$65,833 (±$8,687) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mancos?
10.7%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mancos?
23 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mancos work?
21% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Cortez (15%, 16 mi), Durango (11%, 24 mi), Grand Junction (3%, 121 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mancos walkable?
Mancos is more walkable than 68% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mancos without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mancos, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mancos
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.