Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Household incomes in Pueblo trail those of 79% of U.S. towns
Pueblo grades C for jobs and income and B+ for walkability. Poverty touches 17.5% of residents; Colorado has 9.4%. For 8% of workers, the job is at home (Colorado 21%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Pueblo in brief
Most jobs in Pueblo go to people who live here
Of the 39,155 jobs based in Pueblo, 51% are held by Pueblo residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Pueblo’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Pueblo is Colorado Springs, 42 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (4,305) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Pueblo 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.
Pueblo’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Pueblo is better than 28% of U.S. towns, #138 of 159 in Colorado. Job access by car holds Pueblo’s grade up (ahead of 59% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Pueblo could be anywhere from C− to C.
Who commutes out of Pueblo, and who commutes in
On a workday 19,692 residents head out to work, 19,834 work right here, and 19,321 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.99 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where in the region Pueblo works
About 22% 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 daily trip from Pueblo: 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 Pueblo workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 42,511 commuters (the 8% 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.
11% of working residents work in Colorado Springs
Where Pueblo clocks in
11% of workers
5% of workers
3% 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.
What Pueblo’s employers do
39,155 jobs are based in Pueblo.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Pueblo, 2013 → 2023: 40,265 → 39,155. 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 Pueblo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The commute in Pueblo is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Pueblo is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns, #100 of 159 in Colorado. Both inputs place Pueblo 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 45,985 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 2% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 1% 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). 8.6% of Pueblo households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Pueblo’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
For jobs and income, Pueblo is 349th of 390 U.S. towns of 77,000 to 149,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 2 | Plymouth MN | 78,942 | $137K | 4.3% | 2.3% | 12% | A+ |
| 3 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 13 | Highlands Ranch CO | 102,257 | $159K | 2.9% | 4.0% | 9% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 25 | Centennial CO | 108,658 | $132K | 3.3% | 4.6% | 11% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 37 | Arvada CO | 122,901 | $117K | 5.8% | 3.8% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 347 | Baytown TX | 86,561 | $60K | 18.2% | 10.2% | 18% | C |
| 348 | Warner Robins GA | 87,761 | $67K | 14.2% | 6.4% | 27% | C |
| 349 | Pueblo CO | 110,404 | $57K | 17.5% | 5.0% | 50% | C |
| 350 | Edinburg TX | 110,700 | $59K | 26.0% | 6.1% | 30% | C |
| 351 | Yuma AZ | 105,227 | $65K | 15.5% | 6.3% | 60% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 390 | Flint MI | 79,306 | $38K | 34.1% | 14.8% | 20% | 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 Pueblo, the top three, the last and three more from Colorado.
The towns around Pueblo
The biggest share goes to Pueblo West (3%).
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Pueblo workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pueblo | – | C | B+ | 19 min | $56,664 |
| Pueblo West | 3% | B | C | 27 min | $96,810 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Pueblo’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 Pueblo: questions
What is the median household income in Pueblo?
$56,664 (±$2,076) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Pueblo?
17.5%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Pueblo?
19 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Pueblo work?
50% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Colorado Springs (11%, 42 mi), Denver (5%, 104 mi), Pueblo West (3%, 10 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Pueblo walkable?
Pueblo is more walkable than 66% of U.S. towns (Walkability B+): an EPA walkability index of 7.9 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Pueblo without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. 1% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Pueblo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Pueblo
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.