Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0With 0.1 jobs for every working resident, most of Nambe works elsewhere
There are 107 jobs in Nambe for 740 working residents. For jobs and income Nambe is better than 17% of U.S. towns (C−); for walkability it is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (C−). Measured by household income, Nambe is behind 75% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Jobs and commuting in Nambe: the gist
Nambe is a place people come home to
There are 107 jobs based in Nambe, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Nambe has about 1,400 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Nambe workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 29 minutes each way, against 24 across New Mexico. Over a year that’s about 222 hours of commuting, 38 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
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 740 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What drives the Jobs & income grade in Nambe
All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Nambe’s grade.
Unemployment (9.3%) is left out: Nambe’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, Nambe could be anywhere from D to C+.
Who leaves Nambe for work, and who comes in
On a workday 690 residents head out to work, 50 work right here, and 57 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,400 people are in Nambe on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer than live here.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
From Nambe, about 29 minutes to the job
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.4 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Nambe workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 669 commuters (the 15% 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.
26% of working residents work in Los Alamos
Where Nambe clocks in
26% of workers
22% of workers
14% 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.
In Nambe, services account for most jobs
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Nambe, 2013 → 2023: 102 → 107. 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 Nambe’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where in the region Nambe works
About 25% 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 Nambe walk, bike or ride to work
How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.4% across New Mexico, on an EPA index of 3.5.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 791 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 0% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about under 0.1 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 20% 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). 4.5% of Nambe households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Nambe’s commuters take a bus or train.
Out of 5,509 U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700, Nambe comes 4,199th on jobs and income
| # | 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 | Plandome NY | 1,482 | $250K | 0.9% | 1.4% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 704 | Picacho Hills NM | 2,002 | $121K | 5.6% | 1.7% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 893 | Tres Arroyos NM | 1,926 | $88K | 2.2% | 5.1% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,053 | Little Walnut Village NM | 1,445 | $125K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 4,197 | Adams Township IL | 1,591 | $67K | 26.7% | 6.3% | 3% | C− |
| 4,198 | Woodhull NY | 1,635 | $60K | 10.2% | 8.1% | 3% | C− |
| 4,199 | Nambe NM | 2,035 | $59K | 15.2% | 9.3% | 7% | C− |
| 4,200 | Eutaw AL | 2,640 | $27K | 40.1% | 2.2% | 22% | C− |
| 4,201 | Aragon GA | 1,523 | $68K | 25.4% | 14.4% | 1% | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 5,509 | 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.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Nambe, the top three, the last and three more from New Mexico.
Next door to Nambe
The biggest share goes to Pojoaque (2%).
Jobs & commute next door
Darker towns draw more of Nambe’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 Nambe: questions
What is the median household income in Nambe?
$59,375 (±$19,214) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Nambe?
15.2%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Nambe?
29 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 15% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Nambe work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Los Alamos (26%, 18 mi), Santa Fe (22%, 16 mi), Albuquerque (14%, 67 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Nambe walkable?
Nambe is more walkable than 21% of U.S. towns (Walkability C−): an EPA walkability index of 3.5 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Nambe without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 4% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Nambe, from the people who make the trip.
More of Nambe
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.