Dulce’s household incomes are lower than in 96% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D−: better than 3% of U.S. towns on income, poverty, unemployment and job access · #66 of 72 in New Mexico.
Walkability C+: more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns · #49 of 73 in New Mexico.
Working residents average 10 minutes each way (New Mexico 24, U.S. 26). About three in four work in Dulce; the top destination outside it is Albuquerque (4%, 129 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Dulce
The biggest group of Dulce’s workers comes from Farmington
89 of the people who work in Dulce live in Farmington, 67 miles away, more than from any other town. The commute map ↓
Dulce is where the jobs are
Dulce has 1,564 jobs, 2.3 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Dulce are quick
The average trip to work takes 10 minutes, against 24 across New Mexico. That’s about 107 hours a year less on the road than the typical New Mexico 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 695 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Dulce’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Dulce is better than 3% of U.S. towns, #66 of 72 in New Mexico. Unemployment holds Dulce’s grade up (5.9%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Dulce could be anywhere from D− to C.
Where Dulce’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Dulce clocks in
4% of workers
2% of workers
1% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Dulce fills up on a workday
On a workday 181 residents head out to work, 514 work right here, and 1,050 people come in from elsewhere.
About 4,100 people are in Dulce on a workday afternoon, 27% more than live here.
2.3 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.
About 10 minutes each way, quicker than most of New Mexico
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 3.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Dulce workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,339 commuters (the 3% 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
1,564 jobs are based in Dulce. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Dulce’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Dulce, 2013 → 2023: 1,591 → 1,564. 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.
Half of Dulce commutes less than 1 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 24% 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.
Most trips from Dulce start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Dulce is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns, #49 of 73 in New Mexico. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 5.6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.4% across New Mexico, on an EPA index of 3.8.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,380 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). 5.5% of Dulce households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Dulce’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Dulce compares with U.S. towns of 2,300 to 4,300
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Dulce, the top three, the last and three more from New Mexico.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 401 | Sandia Heights NM | 3,160 | $144K | 4.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 698 | Placitas NM | 4,223 | $110K | 3.2% | 3.5% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,348 | El Cerro NM | 2,923 | $106K | 5.9% | 4.5% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,174 | Louisburg NC | 3,480 | $38K | 34.1% | 25.3% | 13% | D− |
| 4,175 | Richford VT | 2,316 | $57K | 19.5% | 12.1% | 25% | D− |
| 4,176 | Dulce NM | 3,218 | $40K | 22.0% | 5.9% | 74% | D− |
| 4,177 | Monte Vista CO | 4,005 | $62K | 30.9% | 20.7% | 22% | D− |
| 4,178 | Russell Springs KY | 2,828 | $39K | 28.3% | 12.4% | 25% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,316 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | 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.
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 Dulce: questions
What is the median household income in Dulce?
$39,773 (±$7,015) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Dulce?
22.0%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Dulce?
10 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Dulce work?
74% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albuquerque (4%, 129 mi), Farmington (2%, 67 mi), Durango (1%, 53 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Dulce walkable?
Dulce is more walkable than 41% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 3.8 out of 20, and 6% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Dulce without a car?
0% 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 Dulce, from the people who make the trip.
More of Dulce
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.