Rio Communities has lower household incomes than 92% of U.S. towns
For jobs and income Rio Communities is better than 8% of U.S. towns (D); for walkability it is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns (D). Poverty touches 13.4% of residents (New Mexico 17.8%). Only 4% work in Rio Communities itself; outside it, Albuquerque draws the most (43%, 32 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
What stands out about work in Rio Communities
Rio Communities makes and builds things
62% of the jobs based in Rio Communities are in goods: factories, construction and farms. Across the jobs Rio Communities residents hold, wherever they work, it’s 13%. The jobs ↓
43% of Rio Communities works in Albuquerque
826 working residents, 43%, have their main job in Albuquerque, 32 miles away. That’s 11 times as many as work in Rio Communities itself. The commute map ↓
Rio Communities is a place people come home to
There are 359 jobs based in Rio Communities, about two for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Rio Communities has about 3,400 people in it, 32% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
The jobs in Rio Communities pay better than its residents’ jobs
71% of the jobs based in Rio Communities pay over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year), against 51% of the jobs Rio Communities residents hold. 78% of the jobs here are held by people who live outside Rio Communities. 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.
How Rio Communities earns its Jobs & income grade
The poverty rate holds Rio Communities’ grade up; unemployment pulls it down (16.1%, U.S. 5.2%).
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Rio Communities could be anywhere from D− to B−.
Factories, building and farms: 62% of the jobs in Rio Communities
359 jobs are based in Rio Communities.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Rio Communities, 2013 → 2023: 226 → 359. 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 Rio Communities’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Where people from Rio Communities work
Where Rio Communities clocks in
43% of workers
9% 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 workday shuffle in and out of Rio Communities
On a workday 1,842 residents head out to work, 78 work right here, and 281 people come in from elsewhere.
About 3,400 people are in Rio Communities on a workday afternoon, 32% fewer than live here.
0.19 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.
Commuting from Rio Communities: about 25 minutes a trip
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.1 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Rio Communities workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,380 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.
Rio Communities’ commute, mile by mile
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.
In Rio Communities, the car does most of the work
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,626 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). 0.0% of Rio Communities households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Rio Communities’ commuters take a bus or train.
Rio Communities next to U.S. towns of 3,500 to 6,700
| # | 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 | Huntington Woods MI | 6,274 | $190K | 2.2% | 0.9% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 566 | White Rock NM | 5,716 | $157K | 2.5% | 0.2% | 4% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 738 | Placitas NM | 4,223 | $110K | 3.2% | 3.5% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 805 | Los Ranchos de Albuquerque NM | 5,790 | $73K | 8.8% | 0.8% | 3% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,460 | Etowah TN | 3,786 | $39K | 15.4% | 11.1% | 10% | D |
| 3,461 | Taos NM | 6,526 | $47K | 13.7% | 10.6% | 50% | D |
| 3,462 | Rio Communities NM | 4,953 | $46K | 13.4% | 16.1% | 4% | D |
| 3,463 | Grafton WV | 4,529 | $40K | 24.9% | 7.4% | 15% | D |
| 3,464 | Mitchell IN | 4,019 | $49K | 20.7% | 7.4% | 17% | D |
| … | |||||||
| 3,692 | 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 Rio Communities, 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 Rio Communities: questions
What is the median household income in Rio Communities?
$46,035 (±$10,195) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Rio Communities?
13.4%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Rio Communities?
25 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 Rio Communities work?
4% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albuquerque (43%, 32 mi), Belen (13%, 10 mi), Los Lunas (9%, 12 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Rio Communities walkable?
Rio Communities is more walkable than 7% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 5.0 out of 20, and 0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Rio Communities without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 0% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Rio Communities, from the people who make the trip.
More of Rio Communities
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.