Region 9

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Image Map Region 9

Curious about our county's economy and demographics? Dive into our interactive dashboard to explore key indicators and regional trends.

Industry Sector Characteristics

Industry	2024 Jobs	2024 Average Earnings Per Worker	2024 LQ (Industry Concentration)	2019-2024 % Change in Jobs	2024 GRP
Government	6,188	$76,777	1.25	1.78%	529.05M
Retail Trade	4,194	$42,749	1.08	7.83%	328.82M
Health Care and Social Assistance	4,017	$73,476	0.81	-0.65%	337.18M
Accommodation and Food Services	3,955	$32,177	1.29	1.58%	204.54M
Construction	3,516	$61,728	1.44	-5.54%	273.48M
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services	3,351	$77,097	1.03	24.56%	307.6M
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing	3,179	$64,392	1.24	39.52%	287.18M
Finance and Insurance	2,339	$88,803	0.85	40.34%	305.68M
Other Services (except Public Administration)	2,174	$36,358	0.89	5.21%	86.35M
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation	1,965	$25,232	2.1	9.66%	62.02M

Source: Lightcast

Occupation Characteristics

Profession	2024 Jobs	2023 Median Salary	2023 Average Hourly Wage	2024 LQ (Occupation Concentration)	2019-2024 % Change in Jobs
Sales and Related	5,849	$45,211	$41.13	1.15	14.7%
Management	4,812	$70,289	$48.49	1.19	31.8%
Office and Administrative Support	4,363	$45,938	$24.14	0.96	2.38%
Business and Financial Operations	3,515	$75,879	$49.95	1	49.86%
Food Preparation and Serving Related	3,159	$34,391	$19.15	1.12	-1.07%
Construction and Extraction	2,945	$51,828	$28.26	1.55	-10.18%
Transportation and Material Moving	2,142	$44,820	$25	0.6	1.26%
Educational Instruction and Library	2,056	$53,105	$29.2	0.98	16.61%
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical	1,955	$90,564	$57.07	0.9	-5.34%
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media	1,756	$40,563	$30.81	1.29	6.49%

Source: Lightcast

Job to Job Flow by State

Which states are workers coming from?

State	2024 Q1	2023 Q4	2023 Q3	2023 Q2	2023 Q1	2022 Q4	2022 Q3	2022 Q2	2022 Q1	2021 Q4	2021 Q3	2021 Q2
Alabama	164	188	295	281	222	297	341	316	258	300	341	270
Alaska
Arizona	989	1,088	1,627	1,793	1,192	1,381	2,020	1,825	1,183	1,362	1,768	1,493
Arkansas	156	190	247	227	199	276	321	231	213	224	265	206
California	2,554	2,813	3,678	3,098	3,084	3,573	4,703	3,854	3,493	3,930	4,610	3,810
Connecticut	122	158	195	152	158	189	248	193	153	181	278	143
Delaware	21	34	42	22	31	44	51	40	38	58	62	25
District of Columbia	109	100	164	112	147	113	207	172	151	158	202	134
Florida	1,523	1,692	2,236	1,992	1,634	1,980	2,458	2,110	1,845	1,928	2,262	1,675
Georgia	497	631	828	700	628	794	939	742	678	747	886	670

What are the industries workers are going into when coming into the state?

Industry	Count
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting	771
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction	1,009
Utilities	321
Construction	9,329
Manufacturing	5,316
Wholesale Trade	5,289
Retail Trade	13,149
Transportation and Warehousing	5,351
Information	2,524
Finance and Insurance	4,120
Real Estate and Rental and Leasing	2,852
Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services	12,759
Management of Companies and Enterprises	2,130
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services	10,750
Educational Services	4,009
Health Care and Social Assistance	17,213
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation	2,603
Accommodation and Food Services	14,893
Other Services (except Public Administration)	4,718
Public Administration	2,534

Workforce Jobs, Resident Workers, and Net Commuters

Region	2024 Jobs	2024 Resident Workers	2024 Net Commuters
La Plata, CO	43,902	41,925	1,977

Worker Inflow/Outflow

Category	Population
Worker Inflow	6,382
Worker Outflow	4,775
Live and Work in Region	12,517

Method of Commute

Commuting Method	Value
Drove alone	66.7%
Carpool	7.5%
Public transportation	0.4%
Walked	4.4%
Bicycle	2.2%
Taxicab, motorcycle, or other means	0.8%
Worked from home	17.9%

Distance to Workplaces

How far employees are from their place of work

Distance	Count	Share
Less than 10 miles	11,623	50.8%
10 to 24 miles	5,277	23.1%
25 to 50 miles	1,694	7.4%
Greater than 50 miles	4,280	18.7%

Direction to Workplaces

The direction employees drive to workplace

Direction	Count
North	3,312
Northeast	3,382
East	2,061
Southeast	1,613
South	4,206
Southwest	2,951
West	3,112
Northwest	2,237

Destination Analysis

Places residents work

Destination	Count	Share
Durango city, CO	11,526	50%
Bayfield town, CO	829	4%
Denver city, CO	507	2%
Farmington city, NM	488	2%
Cortez city, CO	354	2%
Grand Junction city, CO	344	2%
Ignacio town, CO	283	1%
Colorado Springs city, CO	247	1%
Pagosa Springs town, CO	152	1%
Montrose city, CO	121	1%
All Other Locations	8,023	35%

Source: OnTheMap

Place of Work

Where residents jobs are located

Category	Share
County of Residence	94
Outside County	2.6
Outside State	3.4

Unemployment and Labor Force Participation Rates

Timeframe	Unemployment Rate	Labor Force Participation Rate
2019	2.4%	67.8%
2020	6.5%	66.8%
2021	5.6%	64.7%
2022	3.1%	64.2%
2023	3%	64.7%
January-August 2024	3.6%	65.1%
September 2024	3.5%	65.8%
October 2024	3.8%	66.2%
November 2024	4.1%	64.5%
December 2024	4%	65.1%

Job Postings 30-Day Trend

Date	2025 Postings	2024 Postings
Mar 8th	696	426
Mar 9th	683	405
Mar 10th	685	415
Mar 11th	716	432
Mar 12th	699	436
Mar 13th	706	435
Mar 14th	696	428
Mar 15th	684	428
Mar 16th	683	424
Mar 17th	684	415

Year	Job Postings
Mar 2020	949
Apr 2020	737
May 2020	570
Jun 2020	685
Jul 2020	809
Aug 2020	914
Sep 2020	1,012
Oct 2020	1,155
Nov 2020	1,027
Dec 2020	1,089

Income Category	AMI	Income	Affordable Rent	Affordable Home
Extremely Low Income	< 30% AMI	< $26,550	< $664	-
Very Low Income	30-50% AMI	$26,550-$44,200	$664-$1,105	< $75,348
Low Income	50-80% AMI	$44,200-$70,750	$1,105-$1,769	$75,348-$187,803
Median to Moderate Income	80-120% AMI	$70,750-$106,080	$1,769-$2,652	$187,803-$337,638

Source: La Plata County Housing Study

Housing Units

Area	Household Population	Persons Per Household	Total Housing Units	Occupied Housing Units	Vacant Housing Units	Vacancy Rate	Household Population to Total Housing Units
LA PLATA COUNTY	54,568	2.26	29,272	24,093	5,179	17.69%	1.86

Source: Colorado State Demography Office

Average Home Values

Date	Value
1/31/2009	$317,360.53
2/28/2009	$317,547.33
3/31/2009	$317,082.69
4/30/2009	$316,659.51
5/31/2009	$315,756.82
6/30/2009	$314,767.15
7/31/2009	$313,641.8
8/31/2009	$312,133.8
9/30/2009	$310,294.77
10/31/2009	$308,213.71

year	totalpopulation
1980	27,195
1981	28,531
1982	29,729
1983	30,845
1984	31,072
1985	31,393
1986	30,790
1987	30,916
1988	31,179
1989	31,809

Less than 18	0.179190433
18 to 24	0.1
25 to 44	0.24
45 to 64	0.25
65 to 74	0.14
75 & over	0.08

Population by Sex

Sex	Population
Male	28,553
Female	27,909

Population by Race/Ethnicity

Race/Ethnicity	Population
White alone Hispanic	5,426
White alone Non Hispanic	44,243
Black or African American alone Hispanic	72
Black or African American alone Non Hispanic	304
Asian alone Hispanic	76
Asian alone Non Hispanic	418
American Indian alone Hispanic	1,242
American Indian alone Non Hispanic	3,120
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone Hispanic	5
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone Non Hispanic	50
Two or more Hispanic	433
Two or more Non Hispanic	1,064
White in combination Hispanic	403
White in combination Non Hispanic	976
Black in combination Hispanic	69
Black in combination Non Hispanic	266
Asian in combination Hispanic	52
Asian in combination Non Hispanic	302
American Indian and Alaska Native in combination Hispanic	334
American Indian and Alaska Native in combination Non Hispanic	556
Native Hawaiian in combination Hispanic	24
Native Hawaiian in combination Non Hispanic	63

Commercial Real Estate Dashboard

This interactive dashboard allows users to easily search and explore commercial real estate listings using a range of customizable filters. Viewers can search properties by price range, square footage, acreage, address, keywords, and more. Designed for efficiency and clarity, the dashboard provides dynamic results and real-time updates, helping investors, brokers, and business owners quickly find properties that meet their specific criteria. Link to Commercial Real Estate

Understanding Livable Wage and ALICE Household Budgets:

When assessing community well-being, it's important to differentiate between ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) Household Budgets and Livable Wage Budgets.

ALICE budgets detail the bare minimum cost of living for working households, revealing the large segment earning above poverty but still struggling to afford essentials. Livable Wage budgets define the income needed for self-sufficiency and a basic standard of living without public aid.

Understanding both is crucial for our communities because:

-ALICE data exposes the hidden financial struggles of our workforce, informing targeted support and development.

-Livable Wage data provides aspirational benchmarks for fair compensation, guiding businesses and economic growth.

Together, these insights can help us to build a more resilient workforce, foster sustainable economic development, and secure funding for initiatives that truly address our community's needs.

Livable Wage Monthly Costs

Monthly Costs	Adult	Adult + Preschooler	2 Adults + Preschooler + School-age
Housing (2)	$1,550	$2,075	$2,075
Childcare (3)	$0	$1,048	$1,700
Utilities (4)	$239	$239	$239
Food	$400.35	$590.16	$1,166.44
Transportation	$395.77	$406.04	$779.06
Health Care	$239.51	$707.63	$866
Miscellaneous	$347.25	$554.21	$769.87
Taxes	$621.57	$1,133.49	$1,573.53
Earned Income Tax Credit (-)	$0	$0	$0
Childcare Tax Credit (-)	$0	$-50	$-100
Child Tax Credit (-)	$0	$-166.67	$-333.33

Livable Wage Study Self Sufficiency Wage

SELF SUFFICIENCY WAGE	Adult	Adult + Preschooler	2 Adults + Preschooler + School-age
Hourly Wage for each working adult (5)	$21.55	$37.14	$24.82
# of jobs at minimum wage ($14.42)	$1.49	$2.58	$1.72
Monthly Costs	$3,793.45	$6,536.86	$8,735.57
Annual	$45,521.4	$78,442.32	$104,826.84
Emergency Savings (6)	$76.77	$190.55	$109.4

Source: Region 9 Livable Wage Study

ALICE Households

Year	Poverty Households	ALICE Households	Above ALICE Households
2010	2,018	3,664	15,014
2012	2,541	5,768	12,647
2014	2,461	5,213	13,450
2016	2,338	5,518	13,749
2018	1,999	6,030	13,764
2019	2,151	5,636	14,007
2021	2,101	6,535	13,630
2022	2,336	6,596	13,759

ALICE Data

County	Households	Poverty Households	ALICE Households	Above ALICE Households	ALICE Threshold - HH under 65	ALICE Threshold - HH 65 years and over
La Plata	22,691	2,336	6,596	13,759	$65,853	$58,908

Source: United for ALICE

Current Market Status

Age Group	Current Licensed Capacity	Need	Gap
Infants (0-18 months)	80	656	576
Toddlers (18-36 months)	244	629	385
Preschool (36-60 months)	822	850	28
Total Licensed Care	1,146	2137	991
Additional FFN Care	250	-	-

Educator Wage Analysis

Role	Lower Wage Range	Upper Wage Range
Assistant Teachers	$17	$19.47
Lead Teachers	$19.5	$26.51
Infant Teachers	$17.62	$22.69
Toddler Teachers	$16.98	$21
Assistant Directors	$18.11	$20
Directors	$31.03	$31.03