Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Waltraux~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domainWray has lower household incomes than 78% of U.S. towns
For 2% of workers, the job is at home, next to 21% for Colorado as a whole. The poverty rate is 17.5%, next to 9.4% for Colorado as a whole. Jobs and income earn Wray D; getting around on foot earns it B.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The commute and the jobs: Wray in brief
Commutes from Wray are quick
The average trip to work takes 14 minutes, against 25 across Colorado. That’s about 84 hours a year less on the road than the typical Colorado worker. Time on the road ↓
Few Wray workers work from home
Only 2% of workers work from home, against 21% across Colorado. Almost everyone here travels to a job. Time on the road ↓
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 ↓
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 775 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Wray earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Wray is better than 7% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Wray’s grade up ($57,171, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 5% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (0.5%) is left out: Wray’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Wray could be anywhere from D− to C.
A commute of about 14 minutes in Wray
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Wray workers work from home, vs 21% across Colorado. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 916 commuters (the 2% 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 far it is to work from Wray
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.
Who leaves Wray for work, and who comes in
On a workday 489 residents head out to work, 286 work right here, and 811 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Wray on a workday afternoon, 14% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.42 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.
Where Wray goes to work
Where Wray clocks in
3% 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.
What Wray’s employers do
1,097 jobs are based in Wray.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Wray, 2013 → 2023: 1,138 → 1,097. 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 Wray’s own residents hold wherever they work.
For most of Wray, work means a drive
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Wray is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Wray near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 938 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). 8.8% of Wray households have no vehicle (Colorado 5.2%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Wray’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Wray compares with U.S. towns of 1,600 to 3,200
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5 | Columbine Valley CO | 1,684 | $250K | 0.0% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 26 | Stepping Stone CO | 3,137 | $224K | 0.0% | 2.5% | <1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 76 | Holly Hills CO | 2,572 | $122K | 6.1% | 0.0% | 3% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,019 | York Township OH | 2,241 | $57K | 19.2% | 4.3% | 4% | D |
| 5,020 | Perry Township OH | 2,356 | $59K | 16.3% | 17.5% | 6% | D |
| 5,021 | Wray CO | 2,352 | $57K | 17.5% | 0.5% | 37% | D |
| 5,022 | Audubon IA | 1,989 | $40K | 14.4% | 2.4% | 35% | D |
| 5,023 | Warroad MN | 1,976 | $51K | 21.0% | 6.1% | 68% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 5,552 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Wray, 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 Wray: questions
What is the median household income in Wray?
$57,171 (±$13,187) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $95,470 across Colorado and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Wray?
17.5%, against 9.4% across Colorado and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Wray?
14 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Colorado and 26 nationally. 2% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Wray work?
37% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Yuma (3%, 26 mi), Idalia (3%, 26 mi), Denver (3%, 142 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Wray walkable?
Wray is more walkable than 60% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.2 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Wray without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 9% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Wray, from the people who make the trip.
More of Wray
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.