With 0.4 jobs for every working resident, most of Pierce works elsewhere
6% of workers work from home, against 21% across Colorado. 193 jobs are based in Pierce; 534 of its residents have a job. Pierce grades B for jobs and income and D for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Pierce: the figures worth knowing
What’s behind Pierce’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Pierce is better than 58% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Pierce’s grade up (3.0%, U.S. 12.5%); household income pulls it down ($61,250, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (15.6%) is left out: Pierce’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, Pierce could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
The trip to work from Pierce: about 36 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 11.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Pierce workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 498 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.
The daily commute in and out of Pierce
On a workday 531 residents head out to work, 3 work right here, and 190 people come in from elsewhere.
About 750 people are in Pierce on a workday afternoon, 31% 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.
18% of working residents work in Fort Collins
Where Pierce clocks in
18% of workers
12% of workers
7% 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.
55% of the jobs in Pierce make or build things
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pierce, 2013 → 2023: 164 → 193. 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 Pierce’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Pierce
About 25% 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.
The commute in Pierce is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pierce is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Pierce 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 527 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). 2.8% of Pierce households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Pierce’s commuters take a bus or train.
971st of 3,771: where Pierce ranks among U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 203 | Aetna Estates CO | 1,010 | $75K | 1.1% | 0.5% | <1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 522 | Nederland CO | 1,463 | $123K | 2.7% | 3.4% | 12% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 637 | Loma CO | 1,350 | $141K | 5.9% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 969 | Palmer Township OH | 1,177 | $82K | 5.1% | 4.3% | 2% | B |
| 970 | Sam Rayburn TX | 1,366 | $83K | 0.9% | 6.9% | 2% | B |
| 971 | Pierce CO | 1,086 | $61K | 3.0% | 15.6% | 1% | B |
| 972 | Battle Creek NE | 1,188 | $96K | 6.7% | 0.9% | 5% | B |
| 973 | Atoka NM | 1,347 | $84K | 3.3% | 0.0% | 3% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 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 Pierce, 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 Pierce: questions
What is the median household income in Pierce?
$61,250 (±$8,557) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pierce?
3.0%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pierce?
36 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pierce work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fort Collins (18%, 16 mi), Greeley (12%, 16 mi), Denver (7%, 61 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pierce walkable?
Pierce is more walkable than 5% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 4.6 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pierce 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 Pierce, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pierce
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.