Photo: Orange Suede Sofa · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer people are out of work in Denver (2.0%) than in 85% of U.S. towns
Household incomes here are higher than in 70% of U.S. towns. Denver grades A− for jobs and income and B for walkability. About one in ten work in Denver; the top destination outside it is Waterloo (32%, 12 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work in Denver: the figures worth knowing
Why Denver gets the Jobs & income grade it does
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Denver is better than 79% of U.S. towns. Unemployment is its strongest input; job access by car ranks lowest, though still above most U.S. towns (ahead of 52% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate and job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Denver could be anywhere from B− to A.
The places Denver commutes to
Where Denver clocks in
32% of workers
15% of workers
10% 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.
How a workday changes Denver
On a workday 866 residents head out to work, 77 work right here, and 632 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,700 people are in Denver on a workday afternoon, 12% fewer than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.75 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.
What the 709 jobs in Denver are
709 jobs are based in Denver.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Denver, 2013 → 2023: 604 → 709. 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 Denver’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Commuting from Denver: about 18 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.7 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Denver workers work from home, vs 11% across Iowa. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,036 commuters (the 9% who work from home are left out). Across Iowa: 86% drive alone, 1% 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 Denver’s workers travel
About 21% 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.
Driving is how Denver gets around
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Denver is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 4.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 4.4% across Iowa, on an EPA index of 6.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,134 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). 5.1% of Denver households have no vehicle (Iowa 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Denver’s commuters take a bus or train.
Denver next to U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,600: 737th of 5,234 on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 135 | Van Meter IA | 1,978 | $135K | 2.6% | 1.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 158 | Ely IA | 2,366 | $106K | 2.4% | 1.5% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 191 | Granger IA | 2,179 | $112K | 3.4% | 2.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 735 | Clear Lake Township MN | 1,754 | $91K | 4.8% | 3.4% | 2% | A− |
| 736 | Pickaway Township OH | 2,136 | $99K | 3.2% | 3.6% | 5% | A− |
| 737 | Denver IA | 1,954 | $92K | 6.7% | 2.0% | 8% | A− |
| 738 | Dunkirk WI | 1,798 | $103K | 8.3% | 1.0% | <1% | A− |
| 739 | Orion IL | 1,708 | $94K | 5.2% | 3.4% | 13% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,234 | 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 Denver, the top three, the last and three more from Iowa.
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 Denver: questions
What is the median household income in Denver?
$92,000 (±$16,340) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $75,059 across Iowa and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Denver?
6.7%, against 11.1% across Iowa and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Denver?
18 minutes each way on average, against 20 across Iowa and 26 nationally. 9% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Denver work?
8% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Waterloo (32%, 12 mi), Cedar Falls (15%, 12 mi), Waverly (10%, 8 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Denver walkable?
Denver is more walkable than 62% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.4 out of 20, and 5% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Denver without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Denver, from the people who make the trip.
More of Denver
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.