Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 3.0Parker has higher household incomes than 92% of U.S. towns
Only 8% stay in Parker for work; outside it, Denver is the main destination (21%, 18 miles). 4.4% of residents live below the poverty line, against 9.4% across Colorado. For jobs and income Parker is better than 94% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (B+).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Parker stands out on work
How Parker earns its Jobs & income grade
Household income is its strongest input ($133,369, U.S. $80,734); unemployment ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (3.0%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on the poverty rate and unemployment and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Parker could be anywhere from A to A+.
What the 22,094 jobs in Parker are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Parker, 2013 → 2023: 13,135 → 22,094. 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 Parker’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The workday shuffle in and out of Parker
On a workday 28,947 residents head out to work, 2,486 work right here, and 19,608 people come in from elsewhere.
About 57,000 people are in Parker on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.70 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.
Out of Parker to work: where people go
Where Parker clocks in
21% of workers
9% 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.
Commuting from Parker: about 26 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Parker workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 25,357 commuters (the 26% 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.
Half of Parker commutes less than 13 miles
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 Parker gets around
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.2% 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 34,338 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 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 46% 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). 1.7% of Parker households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Parker’s commuters take a bus or train.
For jobs and income, Parker is 42nd of 669 U.S. towns of 46,000 to 89,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 40 | Riverton UT | 47,395 | $127K | 3.6% | 3.4% | 7% | A |
| 41 | Dublin CA | 71,602 | $214K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 6% | A |
| 42 | Parker CO | 65,985 | $133K | 4.4% | 3.0% | 8% | A |
| 43 | North Bethesda MD | 49,677 | $129K | 5.2% | 3.6% | 9% | A |
| 44 | Edina MN | 54,356 | $129K | 4.7% | 3.9% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 109 | Castle Rock CO | 83,815 | $145K | 3.8% | 4.4% | 16% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 123 | Broomfield CO | 79,174 | $124K | 6.2% | 3.8% | 12% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 154 | Littleton CO | 46,246 | $99K | 6.1% | 3.8% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 669 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 28% | 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 Parker, the top three, the last and three more from Colorado.
Parker and its neighbors
The biggest share goes to Aurora (9%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Parker workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parker | – | A | B+ | 26 min | $133,369 |
| Stonegate | under 3% | A+ | B− | 27 min | $159,086 |
| Stepping Stone | under 3% | A+ | C | 26 min | $223,839 |
| Grand View Estates | under 3% | — | — | 23 min | — |
| Aurora | 9% | B | A | 29 min | $88,368 |
Same-state neighbors only. Grand View Estates: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Parker’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 Parker: questions
What is the median household income in Parker?
$133,369 (±$3,893) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Parker?
4.4%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Parker?
26 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 26% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Parker work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Denver (21%, 18 mi), Aurora (9%, 14 mi), Centennial (8%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Parker walkable?
Parker is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 8.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Parker without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Parker, from the people who make the trip.
More of Parker
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.