Photo: AllenS · Public domainHigh Rolls has 0.5 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs & income B: better than 57% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability D−: more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are higher than in 64% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 20 minutes each way (New Mexico 24, U.S. 26). Only 5% work in High Rolls; the top destination outside it is Alamogordo (15%, 10 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The short version on getting to work from High Rolls
A big share show a job far from home
58% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
High Rolls and Alamogordo trade workers both ways
Alamogordo is the top workplace for High Rolls residents (15%) and also where the most people who work in High Rolls come from (23% 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 233 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind High Rolls’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, High Rolls is better than 57% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds High Rolls’ grade up (0.8%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (near the bottom of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (0.0%) is left out: High Rolls’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, High Rolls could be anywhere from C+ to B+.
Half of High Rolls commutes less than 72 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 58% 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.
15% of working residents work in Alamogordo
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where High Rolls clocks in
15% of workers
9% of workers
9% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 221 residents head out to work, 12 work right here, and 100 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.
0.48 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
112 jobs are based in High Rolls. Here is what they are, next to the jobs High Rolls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in High Rolls, 2013 → 2023: 115 → 112. 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.
About 20 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 6.3 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of High Rolls workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 241 commuters (the 4% 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.
Most trips from High Rolls start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, High Rolls is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place High Rolls 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 252 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). 2.7% of High Rolls households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of High Rolls’ commuters take a bus or train.
High Rolls is 1,501st of 5,400 U.S. towns of 900 to 1,800 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of High Rolls, the top three, the last and three more from New Mexico.
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,499 | Suffield OH | 1,126 | $62K | 8.4% | 0.0% | 1% | B |
| 1,500 | Bass River Township NJ | 1,408 | $76K | 5.8% | 4.0% | 4% | B |
| 1,501 | High Rolls NM | 1,313 | $86K | 0.8% | 0.0% | 5% | B |
| 1,502 | Remsen IA | 1,663 | $91K | 3.0% | 5.6% | 15% | B |
| 1,503 | Worthington Hills KY | 1,593 | $74K | 14.1% | 4.4% | <1% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 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.
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 High Rolls: questions
What is the median household income in High Rolls?
$86,375 (±$29,389) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in High Rolls?
0.8%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from High Rolls?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 4% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in High Rolls work?
5% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Alamogordo (15%, 10 mi), Cloudcroft (9%, 4 mi), El Paso (9%, 84 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is High Rolls walkable?
High Rolls is more walkable than 4% of U.S. towns (Walkability D−): an EPA walkability index of 4.3 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around High Rolls without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 3% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from High Rolls, from the people who make the trip.
More of High Rolls
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.