Household incomes in Lee Acres trail those of 93% of U.S. towns
20% of workers have no commute at all (New Mexico 12%). 30.0% of residents are in poverty, against 17.8% across New Mexico. Lee Acres grades D− for jobs and income and C for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Where Lee Acres stands out on work
Much of Lee Acres works one town over
56% of working residents work in a town that borders Lee Acres: Farmington (48%), Bloomfield (6%) and Crouch Mesa (2%). Next door ↓
Lee Acres makes and builds things
73% of the jobs based in Lee Acres are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Lee Acres residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 23%. The jobs ↓
Lee Acres trades workers with the towns around it
Lee Acres has about as many jobs (1,724) as working residents (1,669), but they are mostly different people: 1,570 residents leave for work each day while 1,625 people come in. Only 6% of the jobs in Lee Acres are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Jobs in Lee Acres have more than doubled in ten years
Jobs based in Lee Acres went from 807 in 2013 to 1,724 in 2023, +114%. The jobs ↓
The jobs in Lee Acres pay better than its residents’ jobs
73% of the jobs based in Lee Acres pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 51% of the jobs Lee Acres residents hold. 94% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Lee Acres. The jobs ↓
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; a jump in jobs can partly be a big employer changing how it reports its locations.
Income, poverty and work: Lee Acres’ grade explained
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Lee Acres is better than 4% of U.S. towns, #63 of 72 in New Mexico. Job access by car holds Lee Acres’ grade up (ahead of 36% of U.S. towns); unemployment pulls it down (15.2%, U.S. 5.2%).
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Lee Acres could be anywhere from D− to C+.
Goods jobs make up 73% of work in Lee Acres
1,724 jobs are based in Lee Acres.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Lee Acres, 2013 → 2023: 807 → 1,724. 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 Lee Acres’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Who commutes out of Lee Acres, and who commutes in
On a workday 1,570 residents head out to work, 99 work right here, and 1,625 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.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.03 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
48% of working residents work in Farmington
Where Lee Acres clocks in
48% of workers
6% 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.
Each way, about 20 minutes from Lee Acres
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Lee Acres workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 980 commuters (the 20% 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.
The distance from Lee Acres to work
About 19% 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.
Most of Lee Acres commutes by car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Lee Acres is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns, #59 of 73 in New Mexico. Both inputs place Lee Acres 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 1,232 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 1% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 1% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 40% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 1.9% of Lee Acres households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Lee Acres’ commuters take a bus or train.
Where Lee Acres sits among U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,800
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Mission Hills KS | 3,522 | $250K | 1.2% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Ho-Ho-Kus NJ | 4,313 | $250K | 0.0% | 1.7% | 6% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 426 | Sandia Heights NM | 3,160 | $144K | 4.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 561 | White Rock NM | 5,716 | $157K | 2.5% | 0.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 748 | Placitas NM | 4,223 | $110K | 3.2% | 3.5% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,895 | Gladwin MI | 3,140 | $43K | 17.4% | 9.5% | 25% | D− |
| 3,896 | Carthage MS | 4,864 | $42K | 29.7% | 7.8% | 19% | D− |
| 3,897 | Lee Acres NM | 4,272 | $45K | 30.0% | 15.2% | 6% | D− |
| 3,898 | Tri-City OR | 4,234 | $55K | 27.5% | 8.8% | 6% | D− |
| 3,899 | Elba AL | 3,408 | $45K | 23.8% | 8.3% | 17% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,039 | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Lee Acres, the top three, the last and three more from New Mexico.
Work next door: 56% of Lee Acres’ workers
The biggest share goes to Farmington (48%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Lee Acres workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lee Acres | – | D− | C | 20 min | $44,583 |
| West Hammond | under 2% | C− | C+ | 29 min | $48,929 |
| Crouch Mesa | 2% | C− | D | 26 min | $63,750 |
| Bloomfield | 6% | D | A− | 19 min | $48,472 |
| Farmington | 48% | C+ | A− | 20 min | $68,784 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Lee Acres’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
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 Lee Acres: questions
What is the median household income in Lee Acres?
$44,583 (±$10,955) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Lee Acres?
30.0%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Lee Acres?
20 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Lee Acres work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Farmington (48%, 7 mi), Bloomfield (6%, 6 mi), Albuquerque (6%, 136 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Lee Acres walkable?
Lee Acres is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 5.9 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Lee Acres without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 2% of households have no car. 1% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Lee Acres, from the people who make the trip.
More of Lee Acres
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.