Work & commute · Lafayette

Work & commute in Lafayette, CO

Most working residents leave Lafayette for work: only 10% work in town. The top destinations are Boulder (23%), Denver (10%) and Louisville (7%). Half commute less than 9 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

10%

1,324 of 13,321 working residents

Typical commute

9 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

24 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

30%

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 11,997 Lafayette residents head out of town to work, 1,324 work right here, and 13,091 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in Lafayette.

11,997live here, work elsewhere

1,324live and work here

13,091work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where Lafayette goes to work

Boulder8.3 mi away

23%3,086

Lafayette (in town)right here

10%1,324

Denver19.8 mi away

10%1,281

Louisville2.9 mi away

7%929

Broomfield3.8 mi away

5%698

Westminster8.2 mi away

4%507

Longmont12 mi away

4%483

Aurora28.2 mi away

2%303

Thornton9.8 mi away

2%287

Fort Collins38.3 mi away

2%265

Everywhere elseother towns and states

31%4,158

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

How far

How far Lafayette commutes

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

57%

25%

12%

57%Under 10 mi

25%10–24 mi

12%25–50 mi

5%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

Lafayette is balanced between jobs and homes

1.08jobs per working resident

Balanced

About as many jobs as working residents (1.08 per resident).

The jobs

What the jobs in Lafayette are

14,415 jobs are based in Lafayette. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Lafayette’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in Lafayette

14,415 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities17%

Services (health, schools, offices…)69%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month20%

Over $3,333 a month69%

Jobs Lafayette residents hold

13,321 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)14%

Trade, transport & utilities16%

Services (health, schools, offices…)70%

$1,250 a month or less12%

$1,251–$3,333 a month19%

Over $3,333 a month69%

+57%

Jobs based in Lafayette, 2013 → 2023: 9,183 → 14,415. 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.