Photo: Vasiliymeshko · CC BY-SA 4.0How Cheyenne works: jobs, income and commuting
The average commute takes 16 minutes each way, against 19 across Wyoming and 26 nationally. Cheyenne grades B for jobs and income and B for walkability. About two in three work in Cheyenne; the top destination outside it is Fox Farm-College (3%, 1 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Cheyenne at work: what stands out
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Cheyenne
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Cheyenne is better than 60% of U.S. towns, #5 of 28 in Wyoming. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Cheyenne’s grade. 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, Cheyenne could be anywhere from B− to B+.
In and out of Cheyenne on a workday
On a workday 8,957 residents head out to work, 20,424 work right here, and 16,923 people come in from elsewhere.
About 74,000 people are in Cheyenne on a workday afternoon, 12% more than live here.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.27 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 Cheyenne goes to work
Where Cheyenne clocks in
2% 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.
The 37,347 jobs based in Cheyenne
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cheyenne, 2013 → 2023: 35,484 → 37,347. 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 Cheyenne’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Cheyenne’s commute takes about 16 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cheyenne workers work from home, vs 9% across Wyoming. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 31,392 commuters (the 8% who work from home are left out). Across Wyoming: 83% 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 commute from Cheyenne, by distance
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.
Most trips from Cheyenne start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Cheyenne is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns, #21 of 28 in Wyoming. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 1.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 5.8% across Wyoming.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 34,046 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). 5.8% of Cheyenne households have no vehicle (Wyoming 4.1%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Cheyenne’s commuters take a bus or train.
Cheyenne places 371st of 648 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 47,000 to 90,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | McLean VA | 49,627 | $250K | 2.9% | 2.3% | 6% | A+ |
| 2 | Lakeville MN | 79,270 | $139K | 2.9% | 2.0% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Fulshear TX | 64,630 | $187K | 1.6% | 2.8% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 369 | Gardena CA | 58,460 | $85K | 11.8% | 6.1% | 6% | B |
| 370 | Corvallis OR | 61,499 | $65K | 24.3% | 8.4% | 46% | B |
| 371 | Cheyenne WY | 66,507 | $79K | 8.7% | 3.7% | 70% | B |
| 372 | Azusa CA | 47,447 | $91K | 13.2% | 6.1% | 7% | B |
| 373 | Citrus Heights CA | 86,348 | $82K | 8.6% | 6.7% | 6% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 474 | Casper WY | 58,771 | $70K | 10.8% | 4.1% | 60% | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 648 | Pahrump NV | 47,347 | $62K | 13.7% | 8.5% | 28% | 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 Cheyenne, the top three, the last and three more from Wyoming.
Around Cheyenne: the bordering towns
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Cheyenne workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheyenne | – | B | B | 16 min | $78,839 |
| Ranchettes | 1% | A | C− | 19 min | $121,445 |
| Fox Farm-College | 3% | C | A− | 13 min | $48,516 |
| South Greeley | 1% | C− | C− | 20 min | $56,844 |
| Warren AFB | 1% | B− | B− | 12 min | $69,432 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
The biggest share goes to Fox Farm-College. Darker towns draw more of Cheyenne’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Cheyenne: questions
What is the median household income in Cheyenne?
$78,839 (±$3,109) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,176 across Wyoming and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cheyenne?
8.7%, against 10.5% across Wyoming and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cheyenne?
16 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Wyoming and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cheyenne work?
70% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Fox Farm-College (3%, 1 mi), Laramie (2%, 44 mi), Casper (1%, 142 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Cheyenne walkable?
Cheyenne is more walkable than 63% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.9 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Cheyenne without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Cheyenne, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cheyenne
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.