City · Sweetwater County, Wyoming

Rock Springs, Wyoming

Rock Springs is a city in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, part of the Rock Springs, WY metro area. It has 23,127 residents. Rock Springs, Wyoming has a quality-of-life score of 56 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #6,912 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Wyoming it ranks #43 of 56 cities and towns. It ranks best on fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (low), public libraries (high) and restaurants and bars (high). It ranks worst on suicide rate (high), distance to an emergency room (high) and drought exposure (high).

56Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #6,912 of 15,651 cities and towns
Wyoming: #43 of 56 in WY
Population: 23,127 (2020-2024)
Land area: 20 mi²
Density: 1,170.8 /mi²
FIPS code: 5667235

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety38#9,747/15,637
Economy41#9,189/15,631
Housing82#2,689/14,977
Health23#12,041/15,609
Healthcare19#12,646/15,650
Environment87#1,950/15,453
Education86#2,251/15,649
Infrastructure54#7,254/15,650
Community47#8,343/15,651
Leisure & amenities60#6,292/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Rock Springs, Wyoming ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Sweetwater County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · low4.3 µg/m³
99/100Wyoming 4.4 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencySweetwater County value
Public libraries · high2.4 /10k
94/100Wyoming 1.3 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesSweetwater County value
Restaurants and bars · high13.8 /10k
93/100Wyoming 12.3 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsSweetwater County value
Math scores · high3.44
92/100Wyoming 3.23United States 3.032019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSweetwater County value
Reading scores · high3.36
92/100Wyoming 3.24United States 3.052019University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSweetwater County value
High school diploma or higher · high91.5%
91/100Wyoming 94.2%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003

Weaknesses

Suicide rate · high36.4 /100k
1/100Wyoming 30.0 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataSweetwater County value
Distance to an emergency room · high23.0 mi
2/100Wyoming 15.7 miUnited States 5.5 miJul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesSweetwater County value
Drought exposure · high99%
2/100Wyoming 74%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAASweetwater County value
Distance to an airport · high149 mi
2/100Wyoming 131 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauSweetwater County value
Firearm deaths · high26.7 /100k
4/100Wyoming 25.3 /100kUnited States 12.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataSweetwater County value
Mammography screening · low33.0%
4/100Wyoming 40.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSweetwater County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

Child poverty rateWorsening
9.9% (2015-2019) → 21.7% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
New homes permittedWorsening
1.3 /1k (2021) → 0.7 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−48%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.8× (2015-2019) → 3.7× (2020-2024)
+34%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Poverty rateWorsening
9.9% (2015-2019) → 16.1% (2020-2024)
+6.1 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 12.3% → 12.1%
Average commute timeWorsening
17.5 min (2015-2019) → 22.5 min (2020-2024)
+29%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
Bachelor's degree or higherWorsening
26.7% (2015-2019) → 21.9% (2020-2024)
−4.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Rock Springs, Wyoming improved on 1 of 15 measures with a comparison and declined on 8. 6 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved1

Broadband+4.1 points86.2% → 90.2%

Declined8

Household income−9.8%$76,722 → $69,168
Child poverty+12 points9.9% → 21.7%
Inequality+0.0770.407 → 0.484
Bachelor's+−4.9 points26.7% → 21.9%
Poverty+6.1 points9.9% → 16.1%

All 15 measures

Change of every measure of Rock Springs, Wyoming between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	17.5 min2015-2019	22.5 min2020-2024	+5.0 min	Declined	10%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.7%2015-2019	21.9%2020-2024	−4.9 points	Declined	7%
Broadband subscriptions	86.2%2015-2019	90.2%2020-2024	+4.1 points	Improved	26%
Child poverty rate	9.9%2015-2019	21.7%2020-2024	+12 points	Declined	10%
Effective property tax rate	0.66%2015-2019	0.65%2020-2024	−0 points	Within the margin of error	17%
High school diploma or higher	93.6%2015-2019	91.5%2020-2024	−2.1 points	Within the margin of error	15%
Home price to income ratio	2.8×2015-2019	3.7×2020-2024	+0.9×	Declined	25%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4072015-2019	0.4842020-2024	+0.077	Declined	8%
Median household income	$76,7222015-2019	$69,1682020-2024	−9.8%	Declined	3%
Poverty rate	9.9%2015-2019	16.1%2020-2024	+6.1 points	Declined	10%
Public transit commuters	2.7%2015-2019	2.0%2020-2024	−0.6 points	Within the margin of error	20%
Rent as share of income	24.6%2015-2019	27.3%2020-2024	+2.7 points	Within the margin of error	35%
Rent-burdened households	43.0%2015-2019	42.9%2020-2024	−0.2 points	Within the margin of error	57%
Unemployment rate	4.9%2015-2019	5.2%2020-2024	+0.3 points	Within the margin of error	42%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	10.6%2015-2019	15.3%2020-2024	+4.8 points	Declined	11%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Rock Springs, Wyoming five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Rock Springs, Wyoming in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Rock Springs, Wyoming itself moved −19.5 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

23,127 residents (±26)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79
60–69

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

9,625 households (±398)

Rock Springs, Wyoming
Wyoming share

Under $25k15%1,440
$25k–50k21%2,034
$50k–75k18%1,731

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

9,625 households (±398)

Rock Springs, Wyoming
Wyoming share

Own72%6,964
Rent28%2,661

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

11,327 workers (±457)

Rock Springs, Wyoming
Wyoming share

Drive alone79%8,961
Carpool12%1,399
Public transit2.0%†230

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Rock Springs, WY

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Sweetwater County, the county holding most of Rock Springs's residents.

Sweetwater County has 1,219 employer establishments, 295 for every 10,000 residents (1.19× the US rate of 248; 0.72× Wyoming's), with 15,361 paid employees at an average annual pay of $70,279. The Census Bureau also counts 2,616 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,219; 2,616 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 295; US 248 · Wyoming 408
Paid employees: 15,361
Average annual pay: $70,279; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Sweetwater County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Ambulatory health care services	84	20.3	0.98×About typical	506	$50,146	82
Specialty trade contractors	82	19.9	1.28×More than typical	691	$62,201	168
Restaurants and other eating places	80	19.4	1.05×About typical	1,439	$19,548	7
Lessors of real estate	54	13.1	1.06×About typical	131	$37,092	359
Truck transportation	52	12.6	2.49×More than typical	420	$85,579	76
Offices of other health practitioners	45	10.9	1.79×More than typical	194	$41,557	39
Building equipment contractors	40	9.7	1.61×More than typical	329	$69,204	31
Full-service restaurants	35	8.5	1.10×About typical	600	$21,262	—
Services to buildings and dwellings	35	8.5	1.26×More than typical	148	$39,419	137
Limited-service restaurants	33	8	1.00×About typical	757	$17,626	—
Automotive repair and maintenance	32	7.7	1.54×More than typical	174	$45,603	40
Construction of buildings	32	7.7	1.02×About typical	165	$84,297	50

Rank places for an industry Open Sweetwater County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 41,294 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $72.1K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Rock Springs, Wyoming: $3.12 per resident (US $1,995).

Obligations: $72.1K; +95% vs FY2025
Per resident: $3.12; US $1,995
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 4.2%; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Bureau of Land Management$62K86%
Federal Aviation Administration$5,7378.0%
Forest Service$4,0515.6%
Federal Bureau of Investigation$3500.5%

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

42.9KFY2017
20.7KFY2018
21.1KFY2019
33KFY2020
55.5KFY2021
74.2KFY2022
26.5KFY2023
43.2KFY2024

Top industries (NAICS)

Support activities for mining · 2131$26.9K37%
Other crop farming · 1119$15.9K22%
Waste collection · 5621$6,4398.9%
Utility system construction · 2371$5,7378.0%
Support activities for forestry · 1153$3,6715.1%
Special food services · 7223$3,2624.5%

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 6, 2026, loaded Oct 6, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Rock Springs, Wyoming, so they do not add up across cities.

Rock Springs, Wyoming's figures are part of those of Sweetwater County, WY ($4.5M in FY2026), never added to them: 1.6% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Rock Springs is mostly in Sweetwater County.

See federal money in Sweetwater County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Rock Springs, Wyoming is represented in the 119th Congress by these members.

House

Harriet M. HagemanR-WY · 100% of residentsWith party 98%Missed 0.3%

Senate

Explore Congress The 2026 races

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Sweetwater County74100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Rock Springs, WY63

Other cities and towns in Sweetwater County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/5667235

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends