Riverton, Wyoming
Area Profile
10,856 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Riverton, in Fremont County.
Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 3.2% and the Opportunity signal places Riverton in the bottom 26%.
Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, earthquake and wildfire.
A major airport is 5 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.
At a glance
Jobs & opportunity
Unemployment of 3.2% is lower than 92% of the 3,904 measured US cities.
Employment fell 2.7% over the past year, to 16,514 employed residents.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income ±$4,086 | $55,208 | Bottom 31% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Per capita income ±$2,036 | $28,564 | Bottom 32% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Poverty rate | 11.9% | Top 46% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Average commute | 15.6 min | Bottom 7% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Bachelor's degree or higher | 24.1% | Top 41% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Employment | 16,514 | Bottom 18% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (3 years) | -6.7% | Bottom 1% | June 2026 |
| Employment change (year over year) | -2.7% | Bottom 12% | June 2026 |
| Labor force | 17,063 | Bottom 17% | June 2026 |
| Labor force participation | 65.3% | Top 33% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Unemployment change (year over year) | -0.7% | Bottom 13% | June 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | 3.2% | Bottom 8% | June 2026 |
The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Fremont County, WY, which contains this city.
Housing & affordability
How it’s calculated →Median rent of $921 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.
A median home costs 4.0 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.
| Metric | Value | Compared with peers | Source period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home price to income | 3.97 | Top 28% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Homeownership rate | 55.1% | Bottom 14% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Housing units ±234 | 4,608 | Top 12% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median gross rent ±$94 | $921 | Bottom 44% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Median home value ±$9,276 | $219,400 | Top 42% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Rent as a share of income | 20.0% | Top 41% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
| Vacancy rate | 9.1% | Bottom 47% | 2024 ACS 5-Year |
Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.
Growth & development
How it’s calculated →An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.
Population has grown 2% since 2020, reaching 10,953 in 2024.
New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.
At 1.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.
Weather & climate
4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 8°F.
Normal annual precipitation is 8.6 inches.
| Metric | Value | Source period |
|---|---|---|
| Annual precipitation | 8.6" | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average January low | 8°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Average July high | 88°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Comfortable months | 4 | 1991-2020 Normals |
| Seasonal temperature swing | 53°F | 1991-2020 Normals |
Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.
Physical risk
The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and wildfire.
Low or minimal exposure: landslide, winter weather, lightning, hail, drought, strong wind, volcanic activity, tornado, ice storm.
Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.
What this profile does not cover
Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.
- Crime
- The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. Reported crime is also easy to misread: agency participation varies year to year, and a city that draws a large daytime workforce carries incidents its residents did not generate.
- Taxes
- No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
- Full cost of living
- No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.
Access
3 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 5 miles away.
| Airport | Code | Distance | Longest runway |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Wyoming Rgnl | RIW | 5 mi | 8,204 ft |
| Ralph Wenz Fld | PNA | 74 mi | 8,900 ft |
| Casper/Natrona County Intl | CPR | 97 mi | 10,165 ft |
Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.
Customize your score
What matters to you?
Choose what you weight most heavily. Nothing is saved to an account — your preferences stay in this browser, and the Area Score never changes.
Select one or more priorities to see how this location scores against them.
Similar places
Matched on AreaProfile signals, not geographyCompare
Put Riverton side by side with a similar place.
Data & methodology
| Used for | Source | Source period | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access | Federal Aviation Administration Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service | NASR current cycle | 28-day NASR cycle |
| Physical risk | Federal Emergency Management Agency National Risk Index | National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0) | Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current) |
| Climate | NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly) | 1991-2020 Normals | Every ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period) |
| Jobs | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics | June 2026 | Monthly |
| Demographics | U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program | July 1, 2024 estimate | Annual (vintage released each spring) |
| Demographics, Housing, Income, Jobs | U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File) | 2024 ACS 5-Year | Annual (5-year estimates released each December) |
| Development | U.S. Census Bureau Building Permits Survey | 12 months ending July 2026 | Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month |
Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.