Photo: Finetooth · CC BY-SA 3.0Jobs and earnings in Boulder, and the trip to work
Only 3% work in Boulder; the top destination outside it is Helena (32%, 25 miles). For jobs and income Boulder is better than 49% of U.S. towns (B−); for walkability it is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (A). Commuters spend 25 minutes getting to work on average; Montana averages 19, the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Boulder at work: what stands out
Boulder and Helena trade workers both ways
Helena is the top workplace for Boulder residents (32%) and also where the most people who work in Boulder come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
Fewer jobs are based in Boulder than ten years ago
Jobs counted in Boulder fell from 476 in 2013 to 250 in 2023, −47%. That can be real closings or a large employer now reporting its workers at another address; the data can’t tell the two apart. The jobs ↓
Boulder workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 25 minutes each way, against 19 across Montana. Over a year that’s about 192 hours of commuting, 46 more than the state’s typical worker. 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 425 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
The four measures behind Boulder’s grade
The poverty rate holds Boulder’s grade up (3.8%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 13% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (6.9%) is left out: Boulder’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, Boulder could be anywhere from C− to B+.
The towns that employ Boulder’s residents
Where Boulder clocks in
32% of workers
5% 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 Boulder: what the 250 are
250 jobs are based in Boulder.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Boulder, 2013 → 2023: 476 → 250. 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 Boulder’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 25 minutes from Boulder
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Boulder workers work from home, vs 13% across Montana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 518 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Montana: 81% 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.
The workday shuffle in and out of Boulder
On a workday 413 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 238 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,100 people are in Boulder on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.59 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 2023, primary jobs.
The commute from Boulder, by distance
About 27% 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.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Boulder
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 557 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). 0.0% of Boulder households have no vehicle (Montana 4.7%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Boulder’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Boulder is 1,941st among 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 591 | Wye MT | 1,055 | $110K | 2.7% | 1.3% | 5% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 703 | Clinton MT | 1,040 | $104K | 3.8% | 4.1% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,331 | Churchill MT | 1,167 | $108K | 6.3% | 1.3% | 4% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,939 | Bunker Hill IL | 1,593 | $76K | 10.5% | 5.0% | 9% | B− |
| 1,940 | Gower MO | 1,514 | $84K | 10.9% | 2.1% | 7% | B− |
| 1,941 | Boulder MT | 1,305 | $73K | 3.8% | 6.9% | 3% | B− |
| 1,942 | Hampton NJ | 1,443 | $67K | 12.4% | 4.8% | 1% | B− |
| 1,943 | North Bend NE | 1,263 | $86K | 8.6% | 0.2% | 16% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Boulder, the top three, the last and three more from Montana.
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 Boulder: questions
What is the median household income in Boulder?
$72,500 (±$22,383) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $72,509 across Montana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Boulder?
3.8%, against 11.5% across Montana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Boulder?
25 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Montana and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Boulder work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Helena (32%, 25 mi), Montana City (10%, 22 mi), Bozeman (5%, 64 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Boulder walkable?
Boulder is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.8 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Boulder 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 Boulder, from the people who make the trip.
More of Boulder
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.