First Mesa has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.5 for each
Measured by household income, First Mesa is behind 77% of U.S. towns. 98 jobs are based in First Mesa for 204 working residents. The two grades for First Mesa are D for jobs and income and B− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where First Mesa stands out on work
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for First Mesa
On income, poverty and job access, First Mesa is better than 6% of U.S. towns. Household income holds First Mesa’s grade up ($57,889, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (6.6%) is left out: First Mesa’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, First Mesa could be anywhere from D− to C.
How far it is to work from First Mesa
About 58% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
The workday shuffle in and out of First Mesa
On a workday 193 residents head out to work, 11 work right here, and 87 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
18% of working residents work in Keams Canyon
Where First Mesa clocks in
18% of workers
8% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in First Mesa
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in First Mesa, 2013 → 2023: 15 → 98. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs First Mesa’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 25 minutes each way, about the AZ average
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of First Mesa workers work from home, vs 18% across Arizona. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 367 commuters (the 14% who work from home are left out). Across Arizona: 82% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
In First Mesa, most people drive to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, First Mesa is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 11.9% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.9% across Arizona, on an EPA index of 3.0.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 426 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.3 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 47% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 3.6% of First Mesa households have no vehicle (Arizona 5.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of First Mesa’s commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, First Mesa is 5,612th among 6,308 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 889 | Fort Valley AZ | 1,761 | $126K | 5.2% | 0.6% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,010 | Mountainaire AZ | 1,103 | $112K | 5.2% | 5.7% | <1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,122 | Centennial Park AZ | 1,839 | $168K | 3.5% | 2.5% | 31% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,610 | Roubidoux Township MO | 1,797 | $64K | 22.6% | 3.3% | 4% | D |
| 5,611 | Fort Covington NY | 1,518 | $57K | 19.5% | 0.8% | 15% | D |
| 5,612 | First Mesa AZ | 1,459 | $58K | 17.3% | 6.6% | 5% | D |
| 5,613 | Ohkay Owingeh NM | 1,194 | $47K | 23.6% | 2.6% | 10% | D |
| 5,614 | Flippin AR | 1,290 | $44K | 18.8% | 6.7% | 8% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of First Mesa, the top three, the last and three more from Arizona.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in First Mesa: questions
What is the median household income in First Mesa?
$57,889 (±$10,264) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $79,964 across Arizona and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in First Mesa?
17.3%, against 12.5% across Arizona and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from First Mesa?
25 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Arizona and 26 nationally. 14% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in First Mesa work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Keams Canyon (18%, 9 mi), Kykotsmovi Village (13%, 16 mi), Phoenix (8%, 184 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is First Mesa walkable?
First Mesa is more walkable than 47% of U.S. towns (Walkability B−): an EPA walkability index of 3.0 out of 20, and 12% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around First Mesa without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from First Mesa, from the people who make the trip.
More of First Mesa
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.