Work means Artesia for about two in five of Atoka’s working residents
Only 3% work in Atoka itself; outside it, Artesia draws the most (40%, 5 miles). Jobs and income earn Atoka B; getting around on foot earns it D−. 1% of workers work from home, next to 12% for New Mexico as a whole.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Atoka, in brief
Atoka makes and builds things
75% of the jobs based in Atoka are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Atoka residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 35%. The jobs ↓
The jobs in Atoka pay better than its residents’ jobs
84% of the jobs based in Atoka pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 62% of the jobs Atoka residents hold. 97% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Atoka. The jobs ↓
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 436 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Atoka
On income, poverty and job access, Atoka is better than 58% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Atoka’s grade up (3.3%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 14% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: Atoka’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, Atoka could be anywhere from C to B+.
Commuting out of Atoka: the destinations
Where Atoka clocks in
40% of workers
9% of workers
4% 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.
Goods jobs make up 75% of work in Atoka
495 jobs are based in Atoka.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Atoka, 2013 → 2023: 397 → 495. 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 Atoka’s own residents hold wherever they work.
How a workday changes Atoka
On a workday 423 residents head out to work, 13 work right here, and 482 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 (1.14 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.
Atoka’s commute takes about 19 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Atoka workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 495 commuters (the 1% 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.
Where in the region Atoka works
About 25% 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 commute in Atoka is mostly behind the wheel
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Atoka is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Atoka near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 499 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). 0.0% of Atoka households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Atoka’s commuters take a bus or train.
Atoka places 1,461st of 5,400 on jobs and income among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 746 | Santa Ana Pueblo NM | 1,026 | $86K | 5.5% | 2.9% | 19% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 809 | Little Walnut Village NM | 1,445 | $125K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,095 | Cuartelez NM | 1,512 | $114K | 5.6% | 20.8% | 0% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,459 | Pierce CO | 1,086 | $61K | 3.0% | 15.6% | 1% | B |
| 1,460 | Battle Creek NE | 1,188 | $96K | 6.7% | 0.9% | 5% | B |
| 1,461 | Atoka NM | 1,347 | $84K | 3.3% | 0.0% | 3% | B |
| 1,462 | Coal Creek Township IN | 1,489 | $85K | 4.4% | 3.9% | 2% | B |
| 1,463 | Chester Township MI | 1,770 | $74K | 7.3% | 2.4% | 1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | 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 Atoka, 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 Atoka: questions
What is the median household income in Atoka?
$83,704 (±$14,168) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Atoka?
3.3%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Atoka?
19 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 1% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Atoka work?
3% work in town.
Is Atoka walkable?
Atoka is more walkable than 2% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.8 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Atoka without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Atoka, from the people who make the trip.
More of Atoka
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.