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ZIP Code81077

Swink, CO

Otero County · Colorado · United States
Home to 636 people across 2.208 square miles.

MountainOwner-majority6 ZIPs in county

At a glance

81077 by the numbers

Every figure below comes from the 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, the Census Gazetteer, or is computed from those. Margins of error are shown where they matter.

Population
636
±246 · bottom 25% nationally
Median household income
$54,583
US median $70,109 · bottom 25%
Median home value
$143,700
US median $207,500 · 28th pctile
Median age
35.7
US median 42 years
Population density
288/mi²
67th pctile most dense
Land area
2.208 mi²
plus 0.079 mi² water

Location

Where 81077 is

38.019499, -103.613443 · Census ZCTA internal pointOpen larger map →
Coordinates38.019499, -103.613443
Time zoneAmerica/Denver
CountyOtero County
StateColorado (CO)
Land area2.208 mi²
Coordinate sourceCensus ZCTA internal point

Local time

America/Denver

—:—:—

Current weather

Live from the National Weather Service

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Distance to major cities

Straight-line, computed from coordinates

Denver, CO140.0 mi
Dallas, TX527.5 mi
Phoenix, AZ569.6 mi
San Antonio, TX662.5 mi

People

Who lives in 81077

636 residents in 284 households, averaging 2.24 people per household. The largest age group is under 18 at 25.9% of residents.

Age distribution

Share of residents by age band

Under 1825.9%
18-249.9%
25-3413.1%
35-4417.3%
45-542.4%
55-647.5%
65+23.9%

Households

Composition and size

Total households284
Average household size2.24
Family households54.6%
Living alone39.4%
Median age35.7 years
Households with internet83.8%

Race & ethnicity

Census race categories. Hispanic or Latino origin is asked separately and overlaps these groups.

White81.4%
Asian4.1%
Other5.3%
Two or more9.1%
Hispanic / Latino20.0%

Income & work

What people earn in 81077

The median household here earns $54,583 a year, below the US median of $70,109, which puts 81077 ahead of 23% of American ZIP codes. 9.7% of residents live below the poverty line.

Compared to the US

This ZIP against the national median

Median household income$54,583
LowestHighest
Higher than 23% of all US ZIP codes.
Median household income$54,583 ±$18,211
Per capita income$35,673
Poverty rate9.7%
Unemployment rate0.0%
Labor force participation54.8%

Household income distribution

Share of households in each bracket

<$25k18.7%
$25-50k27.8%
$50-75k20.8%
$75-100k2.5%
$100-150k24.6%
$150-200k0.0%
$200k+5.6%

Educational attainment among residents 25 and older: 20.3% hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 97.1% finished high school.

Housing

Homes and rent in 81077

A typical home is valued at $143,700. This is an owner-majority area — 92.6% of occupied homes are owned, and the typical building went up in 1961.

Costs

Typical values

Median home value$143,700
Median gross rent—/mo
Median year built1961
Housing units318
Vacancy rate10.7%

Own vs. rent

Of 284 occupied units

Owner-occupied92.6%
Renter-occupied7.4%
Owner households263
Renter households21

Building types

Units by structure size

Single family84.6%
2-4 units8.8%
5-19 units6.6%

Getting to work

How 81077 commutes

84.0% of workers drove alone, and the average one-way trip takes 18.5 minutes. 16.0% work from home.

Mode of transport

Workers 16 and older

Drove alone84.0%
Worked from home16.0%

Travel time

Mean commute 18.5 minutes

<10 min12.1%
10-1964.1%
20-299.1%
30-4413.0%
45-590.0%
60+1.7%

Overview

Understanding ZIP code 81077

ZIP code 81077 is assigned to Swink, CO, and falls within Otero County. Like every US postal code, it began as a mail-routing device rather than a geographic boundary — the US Postal Service groups delivery routes under a single code so carriers and sorting equipment can process mail efficiently. Today it also serves as a practical shorthand for the area itself: roughly 636 people live inside it.

At 288 residents per square mile spread over 2.208 square miles, 81077 reads as a small-town area. It is a sparsely populated postal code, and density shapes almost everything else on this page — how people get to work, whether they own or rent, and what housing costs.

Household earnings run below the national median. At $54,583, 81077 sits in the lower half, ahead of 23% of them. The US median for comparison is $70,109. Bear in mind that median income describes the midpoint household, not the average — it is not pulled upward by a handful of very high earners the way a mean would be.

Living here

What life in Swink looks like

Housing in 81077 costs below the national median. A typical home is valued at $143,700 against a US median of $207,500. Ownership dominates: 92.6% of occupied homes are owner-occupied, which usually signals an established residential area with relatively low turnover.

The building stock is dominated by detached single-family houses, which account for 84.6% of housing units here. The median construction year is 1961, making the housing here mid-century.

The population skews younger than the country as a whole, with a median age of 35.7 against 42 nationally. The average household holds 2.24 people, and 54.6% are family households.

Getting to work takes 18.5 minutes on average one way. The dominant mode is drove alone at 84.0% of workers, while 16.0% work from home. Commute patterns are one of the better proxies for how a place actually functions day to day.

Where to stay

Where to stay in Swink, CO

Swink is a smaller community, so options inside 81077 may be limited to a handful of independent inns, motels or bed-and-breakfast properties. Travellers often widen the search to the surrounding area, where the choice is greater and prices are usually competitive.

For reference, Denver, CO is about 140.0 miles away in a straight line, which is worth factoring in if you are comparing a stay here against one closer to the city centre.

Availability and pricing change constantly, so the live search below will give you a more accurate picture than any figure we could publish here. It opens results for this area on Booking.com.

Book a Hotel →

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Practical uses

What ZIP code 81077 is used for

Beyond addressing mail, 81077 does a lot of quiet administrative work. Retailers use it to calculate shipping and sales tax at checkout. Insurers use it to set premiums, since risk profiles vary geographically. Employers and marketers use it to define service areas. Government agencies use it to route benefits and organise reporting. If you have ever been asked for a postal code by a form that clearly does not intend to send you anything, this is why.

For anyone weighing a move, 81077 offers a compact profile of Swink: 636 residents, a median household income of $54,583, 20.3% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher, and an unemployment rate of 0.0%. A handful of figures like these answer more relocation questions than most neighbourhood guides do.

One caution worth repeating: a postal code is not a neighbourhood. 81077 may cover parts of several distinct areas, and a single neighbourhood in Swink may be split across more than one code. Boundaries also shift as USPS adjusts delivery routes. Treat the figures here as describing a delivery area, which is what they actually measure.

Nearby

ZIP codes near 81077

The eight closest postal codes by centroid distance, each with its own full profile. You can also browse every Colorado ZIP code or use the ZIP Express Lookup to search by city, county or time zone.

More in Otero County

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Questions

Common questions about 81077

What city is ZIP code 81077 in?
81077 serves Swink, Colorado, in Otero County, United States.
What is the population of 81077?
About 636 people live in ZIP code 81077, according to the US Census Bureau's 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. The margin of error on that figure is ±246. That works out to roughly 288 people per square mile.
What is the average income in 81077?
The median household income in 81077 is $54,583 per year, compared with a US median of $70,109. Per capita income is $35,673. Median income is more representative than an average because it isn't skewed by a small number of very high earners.
How expensive is housing in 81077?
The median home value is $143,700 and median gross rent is — a month. 92.6% of occupied homes are owner-occupied.
Is 81077 a good place to live?
That depends on what you're looking for, but here are the facts: 20.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, the unemployment rate is 0.0%, and the median age is 35.7. The average commute is 18.5 minutes. We publish the numbers and let you weigh them.
What time zone is 81077 in?
81077 observes Mountain Time (America/Denver). This zone observes daylight saving time.
How big is ZIP code 81077?
ZIP code 81077 covers 2.208 square miles of land plus 0.079 square miles of water, per the US Census Bureau's 2023 Gazetteer files.
Is 81077 urban, suburban or rural?
By population density, 81077 reads as a small-town area. It holds 288 people per square mile across 2.208 square miles of land. For reference, densities above 10,000 per square mile generally indicate an urban core, 1,000–3,000 is typically suburban, and under 200 is rural. These are rules of thumb rather than official designations — the Census Bureau classifies urban and rural areas by census block, not by ZIP code.
What is the commute like from 81077?
The average one-way commute from 81077 takes about 18.5 minutes. The most common way to travel is drove alone, used by 84.0% of workers aged 16 and over. Commute figures cover people who were employed and working outside the home during the survey period.
How many people work in 81077?
About 282 residents of 81077 are employed. Labor force participation stands at 54.8% and the unemployment rate is 0.0%. Note this counts residents by where they live, not by where they work — a ZIP with many offices can have far more jobs than employed residents.
Where should I stay when visiting 81077?
Accommodation in and around Swink, CO ranges with the character of the area. See the 'Where to stay' section on this page for local context, and use the live search there for current availability and pricing.
Does 81077 cover more than one city or county?
This page lists Swink as the primary place and Otero County as the county. ZIP codes follow mail delivery routes rather than municipal or county lines, so a single code can straddle boundaries, and USPS also recognises alternate acceptable city names for many codes. If you need the definitive answer for a specific street address, the USPS ZIP Code Lookup is the authority.
Can ZIP code 81077 change?
Yes. USPS adjusts ZIP codes as delivery volumes shift — codes are occasionally split, merged, retired or newly created, and boundaries move more often than most people assume. The Census Bureau's ZCTA definitions, which underpin the demographic figures on this page, are redrawn only once a decade, so the two can drift apart between censuses.

Methodology

Where this data comes from

  • Postal geography — GeoNames open postal code database (CC BY 4.0), cross-checked against the US Census Gazetteer.
  • Demographics, income, housing, commute — US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-Year Estimates, ZIP Code Tabulation Area 81077. Tables B01001, B01002, B01003, B02001, B03003, B08301, B08303, B11001, B15003, B17001, B19001, B19013, B19301, B23025, B25002, B25003, B25024, B25035, B25064, B25077, B28002.
  • Land and water area — US Census Bureau 2023 Gazetteer Files.
  • Weather — NOAA National Weather Service, fetched live in your browser.
  • Map — OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
On accuracy. ACS figures are survey estimates, not counts. The margin of error shown alongside the population figure means the true value has a 90% chance of falling in that range. For small ZIP codes the error can be large relative to the estimate — treat the direction as more reliable than the exact number. This page reports data for ZCTA 81077, the Census approximation of the USPS delivery area.