Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0At 3.0%, unemployment in Rifle is lower than in 70% of U.S. towns
About one in seven work in Rifle itself; outside it, Glenwood Springs draws the most (18%, 23 miles). The two grades for Rifle are B for jobs and income and B for walkability. For 7% of workers, the job is at home, where Colorado as a whole has 21%.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Rifle at work: what stands out
Fewer jobs are based in Rifle than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Rifle fell from 4,571 in 2013 to 2,668 in 2023, −42%. 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 ↓
Rifle’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Rifle is Glenwood Springs, 23 miles away as the crow flies. 18% of working residents (825) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
37% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Rifle workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 30 minutes each way, against 25 across Colorado. Over a year that’s about 230 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical 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.
Jobs & income in Rifle: the grade in detail
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Rifle is better than 57% of U.S. towns, #99 of 159 in Colorado. The poverty rate holds Rifle’s grade up (6.0%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rifle could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
The 2,668 jobs based in Rifle
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rifle, 2013 → 2023: 4,571 → 2,668. 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 Rifle’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Rifle
About 37% 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.
About 30 minutes each way for Rifle’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rifle workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 5,509 commuters (the 7% 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.
Rifle on a workday afternoon
On a workday 3,839 residents head out to work, 755 work right here, and 1,913 people come in from elsewhere.
About 8,900 people are in Rifle on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.58 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.
The towns that employ Rifle’s residents
Where Rifle clocks in
18% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
For most of Rifle, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Rifle is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns, #116 of 159 in Colorado. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.3% 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 5,911 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 34% 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 1.7 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 65% 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). 4.8% of Rifle households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Rifle’s commuters take a bus or train.
Among U.S. towns of 8,000 to 15,000, Rifle ranks 1,360th of 2,507 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Ladue MO | 8,934 | $250K | 1.1% | 1.7% | 5% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 59 | Cherry Creek CO | 10,721 | $154K | 5.0% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 87 | Fairmount CO | 9,902 | $164K | 2.9% | 2.8% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 97 | Timnath CO | 11,600 | $178K | 4.4% | 0.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,358 | Salida CA | 13,900 | $95K | 8.2% | 8.9% | 4% | B |
| 1,359 | Charlestown IN | 8,802 | $77K | 12.5% | 4.0% | 7% | B |
| 1,360 | Rifle CO | 10,844 | $80K | 6.0% | 3.0% | 16% | B |
| 1,361 | Somersworth NH | 12,171 | $75K | 11.2% | 2.8% | 11% | B |
| 1,362 | Dunmore PA | 14,249 | $71K | 12.0% | 3.8% | 16% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 2,507 | Roma TX | 11,543 | $25K | 37.1% | 12.4% | 22% | 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 Rifle, 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 Rifle: questions
What is the median household income in Rifle?
$80,000 (±$8,596) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rifle?
6.0%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rifle?
30 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rifle work?
16% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Glenwood Springs (18%, 23 mi), Denver (5%, 154 mi), Grand Junction (4%, 53 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rifle walkable?
Rifle is more walkable than 56% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.6 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rifle without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rifle, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rifle
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.