Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0Costilla has fewer jobs than working residents: 0.3 for each
12 jobs are based in Costilla for 45 working residents. Hardly any work in Costilla itself; outside it, Red River draws the most (22%, 20 miles). 64% of workers work from home (New Mexico 12%).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The daily flow of workers through Costilla
On a workday 45 residents head out to work, 0 work right here, and 12 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.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Where Costilla goes to work
Where Costilla clocks in
22% of workers
22% of workers
9% 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.
What Costilla’s employers do
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Costilla, 2013 → 2023: 5 → 12. 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 Costilla’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Working from home in Costilla
of Costilla workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 106 commuters (the 64% 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 Costilla to work
About 22% 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.
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 Costilla: questions
What is the poverty rate in Costilla?
7.8%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
Where do people who live in Costilla work?
0% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Red River (22%, 20 mi), Taos (22%, 41 mi), Questa (9%, 19 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Costilla 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 Costilla, from the people who make the trip.
More of Costilla
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.