El Santuario de Chimayo · Photo: Andrea Stawitcke · CC BY 2.5Chimayo has lower unemployment (1.0%) than 94% of U.S. towns
Jobs and income earn Chimayo C; getting around on foot earns it D−. Measured by household income, Chimayo is behind 79% of U.S. towns. Only 3% work in Chimayo; the top destination outside it is Los Alamos (23%, 21 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What the numbers say about work in Chimayo
Chimayo is a place people come home to
There are 111 jobs based in Chimayo, about three for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. Day and night ↓
A big share show a job far from home
37% 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 ↓
Chimayo workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 32 minutes each way, against 24 across New Mexico. Over a year that’s about 245 hours of commuting, 61 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 449 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Chimayo’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Chimayo is better than 28% of U.S. towns. Unemployment holds Chimayo’s grade up; the poverty rate pulls it down (27.0%, U.S. 12.5%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Chimayo could be anywhere from C− to C+.
Who works in Chimayo, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 437 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 99 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,100 people are in Chimayo on a workday afternoon, 14% fewer than live here.
0.25 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.
The commute from Chimayo, by distance
About 37% 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.
About 32 minutes to work from Chimayo
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Chimayo workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 956 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.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
The towns that employ Chimayo’s residents
Where Chimayo clocks in
23% of workers
16% of workers
11% 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.
Inside Chimayo’s 111 jobs
111 jobs are based in Chimayo.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Chimayo, 2013 → 2023: 112 → 111. 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 Chimayo’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Driving is how Chimayo gets around
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,124 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 Chimayo households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Chimayo’s commuters take a bus or train.
Chimayo next to U.S. towns of 1,700 to 3,200: 3,384th of 4,995 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 376 | Sandia Heights NM | 3,160 | $144K | 4.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 721 | Picacho Hills NM | 2,002 | $121K | 5.6% | 1.7% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 917 | Tres Arroyos NM | 1,926 | $88K | 2.2% | 5.1% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,382 | Delcambre LA | 1,766 | $59K | 18.5% | 7.0% | 3% | C |
| 3,383 | Buena Vista WI | 1,794 | $73K | 10.8% | 3.0% | 2% | C |
| 3,384 | Chimayo NM | 2,390 | $56K | 27.0% | 1.0% | 3% | C |
| 3,385 | Kotzebue AK | 2,876 | $110K | 14.4% | 6.2% | — | C |
| 3,386 | Elmendorf TX | 3,111 | $52K | 30.7% | 11.1% | <1% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 4,995 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Chimayo, the top three, the last and three more from New Mexico.
Around Chimayo: the bordering towns
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Chimayo workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chimayo | – | C | D− | 32 min | $56,484 |
| Rio Chiquito | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
| La Puebla | under 2% | — | — | — | — |
Same-state neighbors only. Rio Chiquito and La Puebla: fewer than 1,000 residents, not graded. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Chimayo’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 Chimayo: questions
What is the median household income in Chimayo?
$56,484 (±$13,776) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Chimayo?
27.0%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Chimayo?
32 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 Chimayo work?
3% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Los Alamos (23%, 21 mi), Albuquerque (16%, 73 mi), Santa Fe (11%, 23 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Chimayo walkable?
Chimayo is more walkable than 3% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 3.9 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Chimayo 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 Chimayo, from the people who make the trip.
More of Chimayo
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.