Bayo Road · Photo: Clyde Charles Brown · CC BY-SA 4.0Households in Los Alamos have higher incomes than those in 94% of U.S. towns
Poverty touches 4.1% of residents, against 17.8% across New Mexico. For jobs and income Los Alamos is better than 89% of U.S. towns (A); for walkability it is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (B). About three in four stay in Los Alamos for work; outside it, Albuquerque is the main destination (8%, 58 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Getting to work from Los Alamos, in brief
Los Alamos is where the jobs are
Los Alamos has 19,704 jobs, 2.7 for every working resident. On a workday afternoon about 26,000 people are in town, 94% more than the 13,000 who live here. Day and night ↓
Commutes from Los Alamos are quick
The average trip to work takes 12 minutes, against 24 across New Mexico. That’s about 92 hours a year less on the road than the typical New Mexico worker. Time on the road ↓
Los Alamos’ biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Los Alamos is Albuquerque, 58 miles away as the crow flies. 8% of working residents (579) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Nearly all the work in Los Alamos is services
96% of the jobs based here are in services, such as health care, schools and offices. Only 2% are in factories, building or farms. The jobs ↓
Most jobs here, and most residents’ jobs, pay over $40,000
78% of Los Alamos’ working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, the top earnings band in the Census data, and so do 87% of the jobs based in Los Alamos. 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.
Where Los Alamos’ Jobs & income grade comes from
Unemployment holds Los Alamos’ grade up (0.8%, U.S. 5.2%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 34% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and the poverty rate.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Los Alamos could be anywhere from A− to A.
In and out of Los Alamos on a workday
On a workday 1,635 residents head out to work, 5,570 work right here, and 14,134 people come in from elsewhere.
About 26,000 people are in Los Alamos on a workday afternoon, 94% more than live here.
2.7 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.
How long Los Alamos spends getting to work: about 12 minutes
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Los Alamos workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 6,145 commuters (the 17% 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.
Near or far: the trip to work from Los Alamos
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.
Mostly health care, schools and offices in Los Alamos
19,704 jobs are based in Los Alamos.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Los Alamos, 2013 → 2023: 13,650 → 19,704. 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 Los Alamos’s own residents hold wherever they work.
The daily trip into Los Alamos
Where Los Alamos clocks in
8% of workers
4% of workers
1% 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.
The commute in Los Alamos is mostly behind the wheel
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 7.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.4% across New Mexico, on an EPA index of 6.1.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 7,386 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). 2.8% of Los Alamos households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 2% of Los Alamos’ commuters take a bus or train.
Ranked on jobs and income, Los Alamos is 449th among 2,526 U.S. towns of 9,000 to 18,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Des Peres MO | 9,102 | $224K | 2.0% | 0.5% | 5% | A+ |
| 2 | Beverly Hills MI | 10,449 | $177K | 1.7% | 1.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | New Albany OH | 11,803 | $238K | 1.4% | 0.9% | 11% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 447 | Sunset FL | 13,535 | $109K | 9.1% | 2.4% | 5% | A |
| 448 | Spring Hill KS | 10,777 | $112K | 7.7% | 2.1% | 7% | A |
| 449 | Los Alamos NM | 13,317 | $141K | 4.1% | 0.8% | 77% | A |
| 450 | Madison NJ | 16,607 | $171K | 3.2% | 6.3% | 9% | A |
| 451 | Piedmont OK | 9,427 | $104K | 2.6% | 3.3% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,939 | Bernalillo NM | 9,159 | $64K | 15.9% | 6.9% | 12% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,003 | North Valley NM | 10,455 | $61K | 17.6% | 8.5% | 6% | C |
| … | |||||||
| 2,110 | Artesia NM | 12,735 | $75K | 15.7% | 5.9% | 45% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 2,526 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | 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 Los Alamos, 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 Los Alamos: questions
What is the median household income in Los Alamos?
$141,018 (±$16,536) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Los Alamos?
4.1%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Los Alamos?
12 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 17% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Los Alamos work?
77% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albuquerque (8%, 58 mi), Santa Fe (4%, 24 mi), Española (1%, 14 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Los Alamos walkable?
Los Alamos is more walkable than 65% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 6.1 out of 20, and 7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Los Alamos without a car?
2% 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 Los Alamos, from the people who make the trip.
More of Los Alamos
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.