Gunnison is a small town with a large college student population. Because of this, there is a real youthful, hip vibe to the place, and much of the life in the town is centered on the college. This has helped Gunnison to buck the trend of other small towns that have suffered declining populations over the past 20 to 30 years. Spending by students, and faculty and staff jobs, are a big part of the local economy.
Despite being a small city, Gunnison has a lot of people using the bus to get to and from work every day. Most of these people on the bus are using it to get to good jobs in other cities.
If knowledge is power, Gunnison is a pretty powerful place. 55.92% of the adults in Gunnison have earned a 4-year college degree, masters degree, MD, law degree, or even PhD. Compare that to the national average of 21.84% for all cities and towns.
The per capita income in Gunnison in 2022 was $31,563, which is lower middle income relative to Colorado, and middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $126,252 for a family of four. However, Gunnison contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Gunnison is a very ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Gunnison home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Gunnison residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Gunnison also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.95% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Gunnison include German, English, Irish, Italian, and Polish.
The most common language spoken in Gunnison is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Polish.
