Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY-SA 3.0Monte Vista has some of the highest unemployment in the country: 20.7%
About one in five stay in Monte Vista for work; outside it, Alamosa is the main destination (18%, 17 miles). The two grades for Monte Vista are D− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. 6% of workers have no commute at all; Colorado has 21%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Monte Vista, in a few figures
Commutes from Monte Vista are quick
The average trip to work takes 16 minutes, against 25 across Colorado. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Colorado worker. Time on the road ↓
Monte Vista and Alamosa trade workers both ways
Alamosa is the top workplace for Monte Vista residents (18%) and also where the most people who work in Monte Vista come from (10% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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.
Inside Monte Vista’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Monte Vista is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #156 of 159 in Colorado. Household income holds Monte Vista’s grade up ($61,684, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Monte Vista could be anywhere from D− to D.
The daily trip from Monte Vista: about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Monte Vista workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,529 commuters (the 6% 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.
Commuting out of Monte Vista: the destinations
Where Monte Vista clocks in
18% 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.
Monte Vista on a workday afternoon
On a workday 1,352 residents head out to work, 388 work right here, and 856 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,500 people are in Monte Vista on a workday afternoon, 12% 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.
The 1,244 jobs based in Monte Vista
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Monte Vista, 2013 → 2023: 1,166 → 1,244. 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 Monte Vista’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute from Monte Vista, by distance
About 27% 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.
In Monte Vista, the car does most of the work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Monte Vista is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns, #129 of 159 in Colorado. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.7% 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 1,633 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). 10.4% of Monte Vista households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Monte Vista’s commuters take a bus or train.
Monte Vista and other U.S. towns of 2,800 to 5,400
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 41 | Stepping Stone CO | 3,137 | $224K | 0.0% | 2.5% | <1% | A+ |
| 42 | Todd Creek CO | 5,379 | $194K | 0.5% | 1.9% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 53 | Sierra Ridge CO | 3,663 | $158K | 0.1% | 2.4% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,054 | Taylor Creek FL | 4,457 | $38K | 19.2% | 9.0% | 2% | D− |
| 4,055 | Dulce NM | 3,218 | $40K | 22.0% | 5.9% | 74% | D− |
| 4,056 | Monte Vista CO | 4,005 | $62K | 30.9% | 20.7% | 22% | D− |
| 4,057 | Russell Springs KY | 2,828 | $39K | 28.3% | 12.4% | 25% | D− |
| 4,058 | Mamou LA | 2,830 | $25K | 58.5% | 7.7% | 15% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,177 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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 Monte Vista, 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 Monte Vista: questions
What is the median household income in Monte Vista?
$61,684 (±$14,287) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Monte Vista?
30.9%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Monte Vista?
16 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Monte Vista work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alamosa (18%, 17 mi), Del Norte (5%, 13 mi), Center (4%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Monte Vista walkable?
Monte Vista is more walkable than 42% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Monte Vista without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Monte Vista, from the people who make the trip.
More of Monte Vista
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.