First National Bank of Eddy · Photo: MRobison · CC BY-SA 3.0Carlsbad has higher unemployment (5.2%) than 64% of U.S. towns
At home: 6% of workers have no commute at all (New Mexico 12%). Jobs and income earn Carlsbad C; getting around on foot earns it B. More than half work in Carlsbad; the top destination outside it is Albuquerque (4%, 232 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Carlsbad: the gist
Most jobs in Carlsbad go to people who live here
Of the 15,878 jobs based in Carlsbad, 47% are held by Carlsbad residents. In most towns, people from elsewhere hold most of the local jobs. Day and night ↓
Carlsbad has added jobs fast
Jobs based in Carlsbad went from 11,258 in 2013 to 15,878 in 2023, +41%. 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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Where Carlsbad’s Jobs & income grade comes from
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Carlsbad is better than 30% of U.S. towns, #28 of 72 in New Mexico. All four inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Carlsbad’s grade.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Carlsbad could be anywhere from D to B−.
A workday in Carlsbad: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 5,705 residents head out to work, 7,478 work right here, and 8,400 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 (1.20 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.
Goods, not services: 30% of the jobs in Carlsbad
15,878 jobs are based in Carlsbad.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Carlsbad, 2013 → 2023: 11,258 → 15,878. 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 Carlsbad’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where Carlsbad goes to work
Where Carlsbad clocks in
4% of workers
4% of workers
3% 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.
About 22 minutes each way for Carlsbad’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Carlsbad workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 13,519 commuters (the 6% 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.
The distance from Carlsbad to work
About 26% 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.
Few in Carlsbad walk, bike or ride to work
The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 2.1% of 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 14,339 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). 6.1% of Carlsbad households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Carlsbad’s commuters take a bus or train.
Carlsbad next to U.S. towns of 23,000 to 44,000: 1,091st of 1,283 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Dublin Township PA | 27,258 | $168K | 3.2% | 1.9% | 8% | A+ |
| 2 | Southlake TX | 31,175 | $250K | 1.5% | 2.7% | 11% | A+ |
| 3 | Leawood KS | 34,093 | $186K | 3.1% | 2.0% | 9% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,003 | South Valley NM | 37,120 | $58K | 18.5% | 4.3% | 7% | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,089 | South Bradenton FL | 25,990 | $48K | 16.8% | 4.9% | 5% | C |
| 1,090 | Horn Lake MS | 26,741 | $53K | 19.0% | 5.8% | 6% | C |
| 1,091 | Carlsbad NM | 32,524 | $72K | 13.8% | 5.2% | 57% | C |
| 1,092 | Burton MI | 29,313 | $60K | 16.1% | 7.1% | 8% | C |
| 1,093 | Hazelwood MO | 24,849 | $56K | 15.9% | 10.4% | 6% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 1,178 | Hobbs NM | 40,863 | $64K | 19.7% | 6.3% | 56% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,266 | Alamogordo NM | 31,906 | $56K | 16.6% | 7.5% | 49% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 1,283 | Bullhead City AZ | 43,987 | $51K | 18.7% | 11.5% | 26% | 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 Carlsbad, the top three, the last and three more from New Mexico.
Around Carlsbad: the bordering towns
The biggest share goes to La Huerta (1%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Carlsbad workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carlsbad | – | C | B | 22 min | $72,306 |
| La Huerta | 1% | C+ | D | 22 min | $78,861 |
| Livingston Wheeler | under 1% | — | — | — | — |
| Happy Valley | under 1% | — | — | 25 min | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Livingston Wheeler and Happy Valley: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Carlsbad’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Carlsbad: questions
What is the median household income in Carlsbad?
$72,306 (±$13,830) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Carlsbad?
13.8%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Carlsbad?
22 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 6% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Carlsbad work?
57% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albuquerque (4%, 232 mi), Hobbs (4%, 67 mi), Roswell (3%, 69 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Carlsbad walkable?
Carlsbad is more walkable than 64% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Carlsbad without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 6% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Carlsbad, from the people who make the trip.
More of Carlsbad
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.