How Cotton City works: jobs, income and commuting
0% of workers work from home, next to 12% for New Mexico as a whole. Only 6% stay in Cotton City for work; outside it, Lordsburg is the main destination (18%, 19 miles). Working residents average 32 minutes each way, where New Mexico has 24 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
In and out of Cotton City on a workday
On a workday 73 residents head out to work, 5 work right here, and 45 people come in from elsewhere.
About 260 people are in Cotton City on a workday afternoon, 10% fewer than live here.
0.64 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.
Where Cotton City’s working residents head each day
Where Cotton City clocks in
18% of workers
10% of workers
6% 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.
A place that makes things: 68% of Cotton City’s jobs are in goods
50 jobs are based in Cotton City.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Cotton City, 2013 → 2023: 40 → 50. 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 Cotton City’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 32 minutes to work from Cotton City
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Cotton City workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 109 commuters (the 0% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Cotton City
About 54% 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.
- Two counts of out-of-state work. The Census survey asks workers where they work: 0% of Cotton City workers work outside New Mexico. The job records count 23% at employers in other states. The records use the address the employer reports and skip the self-employed, so the two can differ.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Cotton City: questions
What is the median household income in Cotton City?
$56,574 (±$22,996) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Cotton City?
35.3%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Cotton City?
32 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 0% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Cotton City work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Lordsburg (18%, 19 mi), Morenci (10%, 71 mi), Las Cruces (6%, 123 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Can you get around Cotton City 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 Cotton City, from the people who make the trip.
More of Cotton City
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.