Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY-SA 3.0Where San Luis earns its living
5% of workers work from home (Colorado 21%). About one in five stay in San Luis for work; outside it, Alamosa is the main destination (11%, 31 miles). Working residents average 13 minutes each way; Colorado averages 25, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in San Luis, in a few figures
San Luis’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside San Luis is Alamosa, 31 miles away as the crow flies. 11% of working residents (22) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from San Luis are quick
The average trip to work takes 13 minutes, against 25 across Colorado. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical Colorado worker. Time on the road ↓
Fewer jobs are based in San Luis than ten years ago
Jobs counted in San Luis fell from 339 in 2013 to 211 in 2023, −38%. 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; with 204 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Short hops and long hauls from San Luis
About 32% 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 13 minutes each way for San Luis’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of San Luis workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 260 commuters (the 5% 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.
San Luis is a services town
211 jobs are based in San Luis.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in San Luis, 2013 → 2023: 339 → 211. 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 San Luis’s own residents hold wherever they work.
San Luis on a workday afternoon
On a workday 160 residents head out to work, 44 work right here, and 167 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 (1.03 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.
Out of San Luis to work: where people go
Where San Luis clocks in
11% of workers
4% 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.
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 San Luis: questions
What is the median household income in San Luis?
$26,708 (±$2,437) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in San Luis?
21.6%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from San Luis?
13 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in San Luis work?
22% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alamosa (11%, 31 mi), Denver (4%, 179 mi), Alamosa East (4%, 30 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around San Luis without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 15% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from San Luis, from the people who make the trip.
More of San Luis
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.