Photo: Felipe Galoppini · Public domainSterling’s household incomes are lower than in 94% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Sterling D; getting around on foot earns it A−. 19.0% of residents are in poverty; Colorado has 9.4%. Working from home is the commute for 8% of workers, against 21% across Colorado.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Sterling and work: the main findings
Commutes from Sterling are quick
The average trip to work takes 15 minutes, against 25 across Colorado. That’s about 77 hours a year less on the road than the typical Colorado worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
42% 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 ↓
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.
Sterling’s Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Sterling is better than 6% of U.S. towns, #153 of 159 in Colorado. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Sterling’s grade.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Sterling could be anywhere from D− to C−.
From Sterling, about 15 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sterling workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 4,932 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.
How many miles Sterling commutes
About 42% 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.
How a workday changes Sterling
On a workday 3,117 residents head out to work, 2,120 work right here, and 2,679 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 (0.92 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.
5% of working residents work in Greeley
Where Sterling clocks in
5% 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.
Jobs in Sterling: what the 4,799 are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sterling, 2013 → 2023: 5,615 → 4,799. 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 Sterling’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Good to walk, short on transit: Sterling
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sterling is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns, #60 of 159 in Colorado. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 8.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 6.4% across Colorado, on an EPA index of 7.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 5,389 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 9.5% of Sterling households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 4% of Sterling’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000, and where Sterling sits
| # | 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 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 60 | Cherry Creek CO | 10,721 | $154K | 5.0% | 1.8% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Fairmount CO | 9,902 | $164K | 2.9% | 2.8% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Timnath CO | 11,600 | $178K | 4.4% | 0.6% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 2,489 | Kewanee Township IL | 9,494 | $51K | 19.5% | 11.7% | 32% | D |
| 2,490 | Orange Cove CA | 9,811 | $47K | 34.0% | 16.7% | 6% | D |
| 2,491 | Sterling CO | 13,054 | $43K | 19.0% | 7.8% | 40% | D |
| 2,492 | Vernon TX | 9,747 | $51K | 18.6% | 11.8% | 54% | D |
| 2,493 | Sweetwater TX | 10,141 | $45K | 28.1% | 6.9% | 41% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Sterling, 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 Sterling: questions
What is the median household income in Sterling?
$43,283 (±$3,767) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sterling?
19.0%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sterling?
15 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sterling work?
40% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Greeley (5%, 84 mi), Denver (5%, 107 mi), Fort Morgan (3%, 40 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sterling walkable?
Sterling is more walkable than 82% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 7.7 out of 20, and 8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sterling without a car?
4% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sterling, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sterling
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.