Photo: Adam Paetow · CC BY-SA 4.0Penrose has 0.3 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Penrose has 413 jobs, and 1,570 of its residents work somewhere. The two grades for Penrose are C for jobs and income and C+ for walkability. Only 7% work in Penrose itself; outside it, Colorado Springs draws the most (20%, 33 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Penrose, in a few figures
Penrose’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Penrose is Colorado Springs, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 20% of working residents (314) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Penrose is a place people come home to
There are 413 jobs based in Penrose, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Penrose has about 2,900 people in it, 28% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Stores, warehouses and trucking
44% of the jobs in Penrose are in trade, transport and utilities, against 22% of the jobs its residents hold. The jobs ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Penrose than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Penrose fell from 554 in 2013 to 413 in 2023, −25%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. 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.
The figures behind Penrose’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Penrose is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #137 of 159 in Colorado. Household income holds Penrose’s grade up ($88,109, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 14% of U.S. towns).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Penrose could be anywhere from D to B+.
Half of Penrose commutes less than 29 miles
About 30% 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.
Who leaves Penrose for work, and who comes in
On a workday 1,464 residents head out to work, 106 work right here, and 307 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,900 people are in Penrose on a workday afternoon, 28% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
31% of the jobs in Penrose make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Penrose, 2013 → 2023: 554 → 413. 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 Penrose’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where the trip to work from Penrose ends
Where Penrose clocks in
20% of workers
16% 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.
Penrose’s commute takes about 23 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Penrose workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,180 commuters (the 22% 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.
Getting around Penrose: mostly by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Penrose is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns, #133 of 159 in Colorado. Both inputs place Penrose 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 1,522 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 18% 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). 2.6% of Penrose households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Penrose’s commuters take a bus or train.
Penrose places 2,977th of 4,023 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 2,900 to 5,500
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,975 | Amite City LA | 4,081 | $45K | 11.2% | 4.8% | 23% | C |
| 2,976 | Hot Springs SD | 3,670 | $66K | 21.1% | 1.8% | 48% | C |
| 2,977 | Penrose CO | 4,087 | $88K | 11.3% | 7.1% | 7% | C |
| 2,978 | Moulton AL | 3,436 | $58K | 13.0% | 4.6% | 14% | C |
| 2,979 | Carlinville IL | 5,465 | $58K | 20.5% | 2.4% | 31% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,023 | 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 Penrose, 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 Penrose: questions
What is the median household income in Penrose?
$88,109 (±$17,560) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Penrose?
11.3%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Penrose?
23 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 22% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Penrose work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Colorado Springs (20%, 33 mi), Cañon City (16%, 12 mi), Pueblo (8%, 24 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Penrose walkable?
Penrose is more walkable than 39% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Penrose without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Penrose, from the people who make the trip.
More of Penrose
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.