Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0About two in three of Albuquerque’s working residents work in town
Jobs & income C+: better than 44% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #18 of 72 in New Mexico.
Walkability A: more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns · #4 of 73 in New Mexico.
Household incomes here are lower than in 61% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 22 minutes each way (New Mexico 24, U.S. 26). About two in three work in Albuquerque; the top destination outside it is Kirtland AFB (5%, 6 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Albuquerque, in brief
What’s behind Albuquerque’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Albuquerque is better than 44% of U.S. towns, #18 of 72 in New Mexico. Job access by car holds Albuquerque’s grade up (ahead of 82% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down (15.5%, U.S. 12.5%).
The New Mexico figures include the city itself, home to 26% of the state’s residents, so the city and state figures are partly the same people.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Albuquerque could be anywhere from C+ to B−.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 68,203 residents head out to work, 172,607 work right here, and 108,417 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.17 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
5% of working residents work in Kirtland AFB
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Albuquerque clocks in
5% of workers
4% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
What the 281,024 jobs in Albuquerque are
281,024 jobs are based in Albuquerque. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Albuquerque’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Albuquerque, 2013 → 2023: 265,035 → 281,024. 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.
About 22 minutes each way, about the NM average
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Albuquerque workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 233,948 commuters (the 15% who work from home are left out). Across New Mexico: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
Half of Albuquerque commutes less than 6 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Albuquerque is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Albuquerque is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #4 of 73 in New Mexico. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 4.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, above the 3.4% across New Mexico.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 275,085 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 80% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 18% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 5.2 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 85% 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). 7.0% of Albuquerque households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Albuquerque’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Albuquerque is 23rd of 34 U.S. towns of 390,000 to 751,000 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Albuquerque, the top three, the last and three more from New Mexico.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brookhaven NY | 496,410 | $120K | 7.0% | 5.2% | 32% | A− |
| 2 | Virginia Beach VA | 453,737 | $93K | 8.6% | 4.0% | 47% | A− |
| 3 | Denver CO | 740,613 | $95K | 11.2% | 4.9% | 45% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 21 | Oklahoma City OK | 719,849 | $69K | 15.1% | 4.7% | 67% | B− |
| 22 | Las Vegas NV | 679,817 | $74K | 14.0% | 7.4% | 34% | B− |
| 23 | Albuquerque NM | 556,588 | $68K | 15.5% | 5.4% | 72% | C+ |
| 24 | Miami FL | 489,812 | $62K | 19.4% | 5.2% | 34% | C+ |
| 25 | Bakersfield CA | 422,165 | $81K | 16.3% | 7.0% | 47% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 34 | Detroit MI | 649,095 | $40K | 32.7% | 14.0% | 31% | C− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
13% of Albuquerque works in a bordering town
The biggest share goes to Kirtland AFB (5%). Darker towns draw more of Albuquerque’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Albuquerque workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albuquerque | – | C+ | A | 22 min | $68,317 |
| South Valley | 2% | C+ | B+ | 26 min | $58,224 |
| North Valley | 2% | C | B | 20 min | $61,498 |
| Los Ranchos de Albuquerque | under 1% | A− | B+ | 23 min | $72,992 |
| Kirtland AFB | 5% | B | A | 9 min | $84,884 |
| Carnuel | under 1% | — | — | 20 min | — |
| Rio Rancho | 4% | B+ | B+ | 30 min | $89,596 |
| Corrales | under 1% | B+ | C+ | 29 min | $102,307 |
| Sandia Heights | under 1% | A | D | 27 min | $143,646 |
Same-state neighbors only. Carnuel: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
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 Albuquerque: questions
What is the median household income in Albuquerque?
$68,317 (±$1,677) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Albuquerque?
15.5%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Albuquerque?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Albuquerque work?
72% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Kirtland AFB (5%, 6 mi), Rio Rancho (4%, 13 mi), Santa Fe (2%, 54 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Albuquerque walkable?
Albuquerque is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 12.7 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Albuquerque without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 18% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Albuquerque, from the people who make the trip.
More of Albuquerque
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.