Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 3.0Work means Laramie for about two in five of Rock River’s working residents
Only 3% stay in Rock River for work; outside it, Laramie is the main destination (43%, 35 miles). Commuters spend 32 minutes getting to work on average; Wyoming averages 19, the U.S. 26. Rock River has 83 jobs, and 74 of its residents work somewhere.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
How a workday changes Rock River
On a workday 72 residents head out to work, 2 work right here, and 81 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 (1.12 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.
The places Rock River commutes to
Where Rock River clocks in
43% of workers
5% of workers
4% 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.
In Rock River, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rock River, 2013 → 2023: 84 → 83. 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 Rock River’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 32 minutes each way for Rock River’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rock River workers work from home, vs 9% across Wyoming. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 101 commuters (the 11% 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.
Close to home or a long way: work trips from Rock River
About 43% 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.
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.
- Two counts of out-of-state work. The Census survey asks workers where they work: 0% of Rock River workers work outside Wyoming. The job records count 13% at employers in other states. The records use the address the employer reports and skip the self-employed, so the two can differ.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Rock River: questions
What is the median household income in Rock River?
$49,500 (±$30,979) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $76,176 across Wyoming and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rock River?
26.0%, against 10.5% across Wyoming and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rock River?
32 minutes each way on average, against 19 across Wyoming and 26 nationally. 11% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Rock River work?
3% work in town.
Can you get around Rock River without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rock River, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rock River
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.