Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Olathe earn less than those in 80% of U.S. towns
Only 8% work in Olathe itself; outside it, Montrose draws the most (32%, 12 miles). 25.5% of residents live below the poverty line, against 9.4% across Colorado. Jobs and income earn Olathe D; getting around on foot earns it C.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Olathe
Olathe and Montrose trade workers both ways
Montrose is the top workplace for Olathe residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Olathe come from (24% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Olathe has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Olathe went from 305 in 2013 to 433 in 2023, +42%. The jobs ↓
Commutes from Olathe are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 25 across Colorado. That’s about 46 hours a year less on the road than the typical Colorado worker. 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 590 working residents, small shifts move the shares; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: Olathe’s grade explained
On income, poverty and job access, Olathe is better than 6% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Olathe’s grade.
Unemployment (6.0%) is left out: Olathe’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, Olathe could be anywhere from D− to C.
Out of Olathe to work: where people go
Where Olathe clocks in
32% of workers
6% 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.
Jobs in Olathe: what the 433 are
433 jobs are based in Olathe.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Olathe, 2013 → 2023: 305 → 433. 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 Olathe’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip from Olathe: about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Olathe workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 598 commuters (the 17% 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.
Who works in Olathe, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 545 residents head out to work, 45 work right here, and 388 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.
0.73 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.
Half of Olathe commutes less than 11 miles
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.
Most of Olathe commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Olathe is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 0.4% 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 720 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). 1.4% of Olathe households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Olathe’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 1,300 to 2,600, and where Olathe sits
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6 | Columbine Valley CO | 1,684 | $250K | 0.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 82 | Holly Hills CO | 2,572 | $122K | 6.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 579 | Coal Creek CO | 2,346 | $134K | 5.4% | 2.4% | 1% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,347 | Buck Township OH | 2,340 | $43K | 24.1% | 3.2% | 13% | D |
| 5,348 | Scenic AZ | 1,379 | $29K | 12.5% | 10.4% | 3% | D |
| 5,349 | Olathe CO | 1,927 | $56K | 25.5% | 6.0% | 8% | D |
| 5,350 | Irvington KY | 1,396 | $48K | 27.1% | 4.2% | 1% | D |
| 5,351 | Cass City MI | 2,487 | $53K | 21.2% | 5.4% | 22% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,921 | Paraje NM | 1,333 | $33K | 61.7% | 0.0% | 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 Olathe, 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 Olathe: questions
What is the median household income in Olathe?
$55,767 (±$19,007) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Olathe?
25.5%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Olathe?
19 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Olathe work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Montrose (32%, 12 mi), Grand Junction (6%, 46 mi), Delta (5%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Olathe walkable?
Olathe is more walkable than 34% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 7.4 out of 20, and <1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Olathe 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 Olathe, from the people who make the trip.
More of Olathe
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.