Household incomes in Arenas Valley trail those of 93% of U.S. towns
Only 2% stay in Arenas Valley for work; outside it, Silver City is the main destination (43%, 4 miles). Poverty touches 16.1% of residents; New Mexico has 17.8%. Arenas Valley grades D for jobs and income and C− for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Arenas Valley apart
43% of Arenas Valley works in Silver City
173 working residents, 43%, have their main job in Silver City, 3.9 miles away. That’s 22 times as many as work in Arenas Valley itself. The commute map ↓
Most Arenas Valley residents work close to home
62% of working residents have their main job less than 10 miles from home. How far ↓
A big share show a job far from home
31% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 407 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
How Arenas Valley earns its Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Arenas Valley is better than 5% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Arenas Valley’s grade up; household income pulls it down ($44,300, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (7.7%) is left out: Arenas Valley’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Arenas Valley could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Commuting out of Arenas Valley: the destinations
Where Arenas Valley clocks in
43% of workers
6% of workers
5% 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.
Arenas Valley’s commute, mile by mile
About 31% 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.
Who works in Arenas Valley, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 400 residents head out to work, 7 work right here, and 142 people come in from elsewhere.
About 990 people are in Arenas Valley on a workday afternoon, 21% fewer than live here.
0.37 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Arenas Valley makes things: 31% of its jobs are in goods
149 jobs are based in Arenas Valley.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Arenas Valley, 2013 → 2023: 180 → 149. 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 Arenas Valley’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The trip to work from Arenas Valley: about 17 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 5.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Arenas Valley workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 365 commuters (the 5% 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.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Most of Arenas Valley commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Arenas Valley is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: hardly any commuters walk, bike or take transit, below 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 385 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 10.4% of Arenas Valley households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Arenas Valley’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 4,866 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,700, Arenas Valley comes 4,378th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 652 | Santa Ana Pueblo NM | 1,026 | $86K | 5.5% | 2.9% | 19% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 705 | Little Walnut Village NM | 1,445 | $125K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 962 | Cuartelez NM | 1,512 | $114K | 5.6% | 20.8% | 0% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,376 | Fine NY | 1,263 | $60K | 20.2% | 5.8% | 26% | D |
| 4,377 | Green Township OH | 1,673 | $42K | 21.3% | 2.3% | 10% | D |
| 4,378 | Arenas Valley NM | 1,247 | $44K | 16.1% | 7.7% | 2% | D |
| 4,379 | Arrowhead Beach NC | 1,242 | $67K | 39.9% | 6.6% | <1% | D |
| 4,380 | Blue Ridge GA | 1,297 | $45K | 20.5% | 0.0% | 23% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 4,866 | 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 Arenas Valley, the top three, the last and three more from New Mexico.
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 Arenas Valley: questions
What is the median household income in Arenas Valley?
$44,300 (±$28,256) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Arenas Valley?
16.1%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Arenas Valley?
17 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 5% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Arenas Valley work?
2% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Silver City (43%, 4 mi), Albuquerque (6%, 184 mi), Las Cruces (5%, 88 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Arenas Valley walkable?
Arenas Valley is more walkable than 16% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 6.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Arenas Valley without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 10% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Arenas Valley, from the people who make the trip.
More of Arenas Valley
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.