Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0Sanford has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.4 for each
Employers in Sanford report 110 jobs; 269 of its residents have a job. Only 3% work in Sanford; the top destination outside it is Alamosa (28%, 15 miles). For 29% 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
Sanford and work: the main findings
28% of Sanford works in Alamosa
76 working residents, 28%, have their main job in Alamosa, 15 miles away. That’s 9 times as many as work in Sanford itself. The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% 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 ↓
Home offices are common in Sanford
29% of Sanford workers work from home, against 21% across Colorado. 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; with 269 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Where Sanford goes to work
Where Sanford clocks in
28% of workers
9% of workers
6% 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.
The commute from Sanford, by distance
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.
About 25 minutes each way for Sanford’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sanford workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 309 commuters (the 29% 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.
Who commutes out of Sanford, and who commutes in
On a workday 262 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 103 people come in from elsewhere.
About 740 people are in Sanford on a workday afternoon, 18% 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.
The kinds of work in Sanford
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sanford, 2013 → 2023: 63 → 110. 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 Sanford’s own residents hold wherever they work.
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 Sanford: questions
What is the median household income in Sanford?
$42,143 (±$20,833) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sanford?
16.5%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sanford?
25 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 29% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sanford work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alamosa (28%, 15 mi), La Jara (9%, 3 mi), Antonito (6%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Sanford without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sanford, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sanford
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.