Photo: John Phelan · CC BY 3.0For about half of its working residents, Placitas is a commute to Albuquerque
38% of workers work from home, where New Mexico as a whole has 12%. Placitas grades A− for jobs and income and C for walkability. Household incomes here are higher than in 83% of U.S. towns.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Placitas apart
A lot of Placitas works from home
38% of Placitas workers work from home, against 12% across New Mexico. Time on the road ↓
Nearly half of Placitas works in Albuquerque
822 working residents, 48%, have their main job in Albuquerque, 19 miles away. That’s 16 times as many as work in Placitas itself. The commute map ↓
Placitas is a place people come home to
There are 201 jobs based in Placitas, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Placitas has about 2,700 people in it, 36% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
Placitas workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 31 minutes each way, against 24 across New Mexico. Over a year that’s about 238 hours of commuting, 54 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.
Placitas’ Jobs & income grade, measure by measure
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Placitas is better than 82% of U.S. towns, #4 of 72 in New Mexico. The poverty rate holds Placitas’ grade up (3.2%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 49% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income and unemployment.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Placitas could be anywhere from B− to A+.
About 31 minutes each way for Placitas’ commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 10 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Placitas workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,142 commuters (the 38% 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.
Where the trip to work from Placitas ends
Where Placitas clocks in
48% of workers
7% 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.
A workday in Placitas: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 1,674 residents head out to work, 55 work right here, and 146 people come in from elsewhere.
About 2,700 people are in Placitas on a workday afternoon, 36% fewer than live here.
0.12 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.
Jobs in Placitas: what the 201 are
201 jobs are based in Placitas.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Placitas, 2013 → 2023: 291 → 201. 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 Placitas’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Miles to work from Placitas
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 Placitas walk, bike or ride to work
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Placitas is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns, #56 of 73 in New Mexico. 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 4.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,833 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). 0.4% of Placitas households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Placitas’ commuters take a bus or train.
Placitas is 729th of 3,962 U.S. towns of 3,000 to 5,700 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 421 | Sandia Heights NM | 3,160 | $144K | 4.7% | 3.5% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 727 | New Palestine IN | 3,621 | $97K | 5.7% | 4.1% | 4% | A− |
| 728 | Konterra MD | 3,641 | $130K | 8.1% | 5.0% | 2% | A− |
| 729 | Placitas NM | 4,223 | $110K | 3.2% | 3.5% | 3% | A− |
| 730 | Lindstrom MN | 5,039 | $98K | 6.5% | 2.8% | 6% | A− |
| 731 | Wayne Township OH | 4,460 | $86K | 4.9% | 0.2% | 29% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 1,339 | Eldorado at Santa Fe NM | 5,619 | $107K | 8.4% | 2.1% | 7% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,473 | Kirtland AFB NM | 3,413 | $85K | 12.9% | 6.9% | 13% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 3,962 | 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 Placitas, the top three, the last and three more from New Mexico.
Work in the towns next to Placitas
The biggest share goes to Bernalillo (5%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Placitas workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Placitas | – | A− | C | 31 min | $109,750 |
| Bernalillo | 5% | C | A− | 27 min | $63,880 |
| Santa Ana Pueblo | 2% | B+ | C+ | 17 min | $86,250 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Placitas’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 Placitas: questions
What is the median household income in Placitas?
$109,750 (±$27,393) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Placitas?
3.2%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Placitas?
31 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 38% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Placitas work?
3% work in town.
Is Placitas walkable?
Placitas is more walkable than 26% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.4 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Placitas without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and <1% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Placitas, from the people who make the trip.
More of Placitas
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.