Work & commute · Fort Collins

Work & commute in Fort Collins, CO

47% of Fort Collins’s working residents work right in town. The top destinations are Loveland (8%), Denver (6%) and Greeley (3%). Half commute less than 6 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

47%

33,248 of 70,465 working residents

Typical commute

6 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

20 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

22%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 37,217 Fort Collins residents head out of town to work, 33,248 work right here, and 49,796 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Fort Collins.

37,217live here, work elsewhere

33,248live and work here

49,796work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Fort Collins goes to work

Fort Collins (in town)right here

47%33,248

Loveland9.1 mi away

8%5,744

Denver55.2 mi away

6%4,579

Greeley18 mi away

3%1,820

Aurora60.7 mi away

2%1,406

Boulder37.5 mi away

2%1,394

Windsor9.2 mi away

2%1,288

Colorado Springs117.3 mi away

2%1,246

Longmont26.3 mi away

1%891

Lakewood58.8 mi away

1%698

Everywhere elseother towns and states

26%18,151

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far Fort Collins commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

59%

10%

22%

59%Under 10 mi

10%10–24 mi

9%25–50 mi

22%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Fort Collins is balanced between jobs and homes

1.18jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.18 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Fort Collins are

83,044 jobs are based in Fort Collins. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fort Collins’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Fort Collins

83,044 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)11%

Trade, transport & utilities13%

Services (health, schools, offices…)76%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month64%

Jobs Fort Collins residents hold

70,465 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)70%

$1,250 a month or less13%

$1,251–$3,333 a month23%

Over $3,333 a month64%

+17%

Jobs based in Fort Collins, 2013 → 2023: 70,865 → 83,044. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.