Photo: AllenS · Public domainEstancia’s household incomes are lower than in 83% of U.S. towns
About one in ten work in Estancia; the top destination outside it is Albuquerque (31%, 42 miles). Poverty touches 22.6% of residents; New Mexico has 17.8%. The two grades for Estancia are D− for jobs and income and B for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What sets Estancia apart on work
Estancia is where the jobs are
Estancia has 619 jobs, 1.7 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Estancia and Albuquerque trade workers both ways
Albuquerque is the top workplace for Estancia residents (31%) and also where the most people who work in Estancia come from (14% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
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 356 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Jobs & income in Estancia: the grade in detail
On income, poverty and job access, Estancia is better than 3% of U.S. towns. Household income holds Estancia’s grade up ($53,846, U.S. $80,734); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 2% of U.S. towns).
Unemployment (39.2%) is left out: Estancia’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Estancia could be anywhere from D− to C−.
How a workday changes Estancia
On a workday 317 residents head out to work, 39 work right here, and 580 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,600 people are in Estancia on a workday afternoon, 20% more than live here.
1.7 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.
Who travels to work in Estancia, and from where
Where Estancia clocks in
31% of workers
7% of workers
5% 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 the 619 jobs in Estancia are
619 jobs are based in Estancia.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Estancia, 2013 → 2023: 563 → 619. 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 Estancia’s own residents hold wherever they work.
A commute of about 28 minutes in Estancia
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Estancia workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 341 commuters (the 8% 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.
Estancia’s commute, mile by mile
About 28% 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.
Few in Estancia walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Estancia is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Estancia near the same point nationally.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 370 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). 4.8% of Estancia households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Estancia’s commuters take a bus or train.
Where Estancia sits among U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 746 | Santa Ana Pueblo NM | 1,026 | $86K | 5.5% | 2.9% | 19% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 809 | Little Walnut Village NM | 1,445 | $125K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,095 | Cuartelez NM | 1,512 | $114K | 5.6% | 20.8% | 0% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,088 | Phil Campbell AL | 1,004 | $43K | 22.9% | 1.8% | 3% | D− |
| 5,089 | Cuba IL | 1,131 | $42K | 22.7% | 4.6% | 9% | D− |
| 5,090 | Estancia NM | 1,321 | $54K | 22.6% | 39.2% | 11% | D− |
| 5,091 | Jefferson NC | 1,680 | $41K | 22.9% | 2.5% | 16% | D− |
| 5,092 | Shamrock TX | 1,692 | $47K | 19.3% | 5.7% | 31% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,400 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Estancia, the top three, the last and three more from New Mexico.
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 Estancia: questions
What is the median household income in Estancia?
$53,846 (±$18,928) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Estancia?
22.6%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Estancia?
28 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 8% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Estancia work?
11% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albuquerque (31%, 42 mi), Moriarty (7%, 16 mi), Las Cruces (5%, 174 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Estancia walkable?
Estancia is more walkable than 57% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.8 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Estancia without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Estancia, from the people who make the trip.
More of Estancia
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.