Brown's Canyon Bridge · Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 3.0For about half of its working residents, Smeltertown is a commute to Salida
Smeltertown has 19 jobs, and 52 of its residents work somewhere. For 10% of workers, the job is at home, where Colorado as a whole has 21%. Hardly any stay in Smeltertown for work; outside it, Salida is the main destination (48%, 2 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2024, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Smeltertown by day and by night
On a workday 52 residents head out to work, none work right here, and 19 people come in from elsewhere.
About 160 people are in Smeltertown on a workday afternoon, 18% fewer than live here.
0.37 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 2024, primary jobs.
Where the trip to work from Smeltertown ends
Where Smeltertown clocks in
48% of workers
8% 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.
Jobs in Smeltertown: what the 19 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Smeltertown, 2014 → 2024: 22 → 19. 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 2024.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Smeltertown’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Smeltertown
of Smeltertown workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 114 commuters (the 10% 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 commute from Smeltertown, by distance
About 35% 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 2024.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2024, 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 Smeltertown: questions
What is the poverty rate in Smeltertown?
76.6%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Smeltertown work?
0% work in town.
Can you get around Smeltertown without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Smeltertown, from the people who make the trip.
More of Smeltertown
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2024, 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.