La Plata County 2026 Edition

About 19.6% of jobs in La Plata County are in occupations with high overlap with current AI capabilities; the county's overall exposure score of 29.7 ranks 17th of Colorado's 64 counties.

Exposure score: 29.7 0–100 scale, employment-weighted
Rank: 17th of 64 Colorado counties
UI-covered jobs: 27,323 2025 annual average
High-exposure share: 19.6% of jobs, score ≥ 50

Where AI lands first

The five occupation groups with the highest mean exposure scores in La Plata County, with each group's estimated share of county jobs. Scores are on the same 0–100 scale as the county score.

Most-exposed occupation groups in La Plata County
Occupation group	Estimated jobs	Share of county jobs	Mean exposure score
Computer and Mathematical Occupations	669	2.4%	54.9
Office and Administrative Support Occupations	3,184	11.7%	52.5
Business and Financial Operations Occupations	1,556	5.7%	52.5
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations	234	0.9%	49.0
Legal Occupations	233	0.9%	45.7

Where AI lands last

The five largest occupation groups among the lower-exposure half of La Plata County's job base — the biggest kinds of local work least overlapping current AI capabilities.

Largest low-exposure occupation groups in La Plata County
Occupation group	Estimated jobs	Share of county jobs	Mean exposure score
Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations	3,171	11.6%	14.0
Transportation and Material Moving Occupations	1,978	7.2%	13.7
Construction and Extraction Occupations	1,686	6.2%	8.3
Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations	1,528	5.6%	30.2
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations	1,155	4.2%	11.1

Jobs versus payroll

Measured by payroll rather than headcount, high-exposure work is a larger share of La Plata County's economy — exposure here skews toward higher-wage occupations.

Share of La Plata County's jobs, and of its estimated payroll, in high-exposure occupations (score ≥ 50). Dashed marks show the statewide shares.

High-exposure share of jobs versus payroll, La Plata County and Colorado
Measure	La Plata County	Colorado
Share of jobs in high-exposure occupations	19.6%	23.1%
Share of payroll in high-exposure occupations	22.9%	26.9%

How La Plata County compares

Each gray tick is one of Colorado's 64 counties. La Plata County scores 29.7, ranking 17th of 64; the median county scores 28.9.

La Plata County exposure score in state context
La Plata County score	29.7
Rank among 64 counties	17th
Median county score	28.9
Lowest county score	24.7
Highest county score	35.2

Reading these numbers

Partially imputed estimate 19.3% of La Plata County's employment sits in industry cells that federal data suppresses for confidentiality; those cells were estimated by imputation before scoring. Treat this county's figures as approximate estimates.

Exposure is not a job-loss forecast. The score measures how much the tasks that make up a county's jobs overlap with what current AI systems can do. High exposure can mean augmentation, automation, or neither — it marks where change is likely to arrive first, not how it will land.

County occupation mixes are estimated from each county's industry mix using national staffing patterns, not observed directly. Employment counts cover jobs in the unemployment-insurance system ("UI-covered employment"), which excludes most self-employment, gig work, and some farm work.

Employment data 2025 (BLS QCEW annual averages) · Occupation exposure scores: Eloundou et al. (2023), human-rated β · 2026 edition · Full methodology

Cite this page

Colorado AI Exposure Atlas

Martin, Christopher. “AI Job Exposure in La Plata County, Colorado.” Colorado AI Exposure Atlas, 2026 edition. https://coloradoaiexposureatlas.com/county/la-plata/.

2026 Edition · Employment data 2025 · Compiled by Christopher Martin

Download La Plata County's data (JSON) — every number on this page, CC BY 4.0. Statewide files on the data page.