Photo: Jeffrey Beall · CC BY 4.0Clayton draws about two in three of Des Moines’ working residents
For 24% of workers, the job is at home, next to 12% for New Mexico as a whole. Only 3% work in Des Moines; the top destination outside it is Clayton (68%, 44 miles). A typical one-way commute lasts 10 minutes, next to 24 for New Mexico and 26 for the U.S.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Who works in Des Moines, and who works elsewhere
On a workday 36 residents head out to work, 1 work right here, and 109 people come in from elsewhere.
About 180 people are in Des Moines on a workday afternoon, 70% more than live here.
3.0 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than 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 Des Moines’s workers come from
Where Des Moines clocks in
68% of workers
5% 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.
Des Moines is a services town
110 jobs are based in Des Moines.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Des Moines, 2013 → 2023: 102 → 110. 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 Des Moines’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 10 minutes from Des Moines
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Des Moines workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 39 commuters (the 24% 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.
How far it is to work from Des Moines
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 Des Moines: questions
What is the median household income in Des Moines?
$63,864 (±$24,161) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Des Moines?
25.9%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Des Moines?
10 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 24% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Des Moines work?
3% work in town.
Can you get around Des Moines 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 Des Moines, from the people who make the trip.
More of Des Moines
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.