Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Mead earn more than those in 90% of U.S. towns
The two grades for Mead are A+ for jobs and income and C for walkability. 1.4% of residents are in poverty, against 9.4% across Colorado. Only 4% stay in Mead for work; outside it, Longmont is the main destination (19%, 7 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Mead: the figures worth knowing
Mead makes and builds things
60% of the jobs based in Mead are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Mead residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 20%. The jobs ↓
Mead and Longmont trade workers both ways
Longmont is the top workplace for Mead residents (19%) and also where the most people who work in Mead come from (12% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Mead has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Mead went from 1,574 in 2013 to 2,290 in 2023, +45%. The jobs ↓
Mead workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 25 across Colorado. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Most jobs in Mead pay over $40,000 a year
74% of the jobs based in Mead pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), the top earnings band in the Census data. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Inside Mead’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Mead is better than 97% of U.S. towns, #11 of 159 in Colorado. The poverty rate is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 74% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Mead could be anywhere from A to A+.
Mead works in goods: 60% of its jobs
2,290 jobs are based in Mead.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Mead, 2013 → 2023: 1,574 → 2,290. 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 Mead’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Mead goes to work
Where Mead clocks in
19% of workers
11% of workers
8% 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.
About 31 minutes to work from Mead
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Mead workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 2,800 commuters (the 18% 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.
A workday in Mead: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 3,268 residents head out to work, 129 work right here, and 2,161 people come in from elsewhere.
About 5,900 people are in Mead on a workday afternoon, 16% fewer than live here.
0.67 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.
Where in the region Mead works
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.
The commute in Mead is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Mead is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns, #148 of 159 in Colorado. Both inputs place Mead 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 3,425 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). 0.6% of Mead households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Mead’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Mead ranks: 146th of 3,227 U.S. towns of 4,900 to 9,500
| # | 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 | Chesterfield Township NJ | 9,046 | $209K | 2.8% | 3.4% | 4% | A+ |
| 145 | Meadowbrook AL | 9,117 | $142K | 5.5% | 1.5% | 2% | A+ |
| 146 | Mead CO | 7,042 | $125K | 1.4% | 2.3% | 4% | A+ |
| 147 | Halifax MA | 7,845 | $119K | 2.6% | 1.1% | 3% | A+ |
| 148 | Lowell Township MI | 6,500 | $105K | 3.3% | 0.9% | 3% | A+ |
| 149 | Stonegate CO | 8,906 | $159K | 3.2% | 3.2% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 162 | Evergreen CO | 8,602 | $150K | 3.3% | 1.1% | 8% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,227 | 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 Mead, the top three, the last and three more from Colorado.
How Mead compares with the towns next door
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Mead’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 Mead: questions
What is the median household income in Mead?
$125,357 (±$18,451) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Mead?
1.4%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Mead?
31 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 18% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Mead work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Longmont (19%, 7 mi), Denver (11%, 33 mi), Boulder (8%, 20 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Mead walkable?
Mead is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.5 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Mead without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Mead, from the people who make the trip.
More of Mead
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.