Photo: AllenS · Public domainMoriarty’s household incomes are among the lowest in the country
Jobs & income D−: near the bottom of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability B: more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns.
Working residents average 31 minutes each way (New Mexico 24, U.S. 26). About one in seven work in Moriarty; the top destination outside it is Albuquerque (36%, 35 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 Moriarty
Moriarty is where the jobs are
Moriarty has 1,177 jobs, 3.0 for every working resident. Day and night ↓
Moriarty and Albuquerque trade workers both ways
Albuquerque is the top workplace for Moriarty residents (36%) and also where the most people who work in Moriarty come from (17% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
The biggest group of Moriarty’s workers comes from Albuquerque
204 of the people who work in Moriarty live in Albuquerque, 35 miles away, more than from any other town. 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 395 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Moriarty’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Moriarty is near the bottom of U.S. towns. Job access by car holds Moriarty’s grade up (ahead of 17% of U.S. towns); household income pulls it down ($31,650, U.S. $80,734).
Unemployment (11.6%) is left out: Moriarty’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Moriarty stays D−.
Moriarty fills up on a workday
On a workday 339 residents head out to work, 56 work right here, and 1,121 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,900 people are in Moriarty on a workday afternoon, 38% more than live here.
3.0 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.
Where Moriarty’s workers come from
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Moriarty clocks in
36% of workers
6% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
What the 1,177 jobs in Moriarty are
1,177 jobs are based in Moriarty. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Moriarty’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Moriarty, 2013 → 2023: 669 → 1,177. 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 31 minutes each way, longer 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 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Moriarty workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 503 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.
Half of Moriarty commutes less than 32 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
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.
Most trips from Moriarty start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Moriarty is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns. Both inputs place Moriarty 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 522 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). 7.9% of Moriarty households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Moriarty’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Moriarty compares with U.S. towns of 1,500 to 2,800
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Moriarty, 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 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 674 | Picacho Hills NM | 2,002 | $121K | 5.6% | 1.7% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 857 | Tres Arroyos NM | 1,926 | $88K | 2.2% | 5.1% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,133 | Mesilla NM | 1,818 | $75K | 4.5% | 6.8% | 4% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,024 | Interlachen FL | 1,502 | $48K | 29.9% | 7.8% | 1% | D− |
| 5,025 | Hickman KY | 2,258 | $35K | 31.6% | 9.0% | 22% | D− |
| 5,026 | Moriarty NM | 2,074 | $32K | 36.7% | 11.6% | 14% | D− |
| 5,027 | Whitehall NY | 2,479 | $48K | 29.4% | 14.0% | 5% | D− |
| 5,028 | Pomeroy OH | 1,514 | $33K | 39.6% | 2.8% | 10% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,148 | Lame Deer MT | 1,872 | $24K | 55.8% | 42.2% | 60% | 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 Moriarty: questions
What is the median household income in Moriarty?
$31,650 (±$11,299) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Moriarty?
36.7%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Moriarty?
31 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 Moriarty work?
14% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albuquerque (36%, 35 mi), Estancia (6%, 16 mi), Las Cruces (4%, 190 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Moriarty walkable?
Moriarty is more walkable than 59% of U.S. towns (Walkability B): an EPA walkability index of 7.6 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Moriarty without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 8% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Moriarty, from the people who make the trip.
More of Moriarty
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.