More than half of Sandia Knolls’ working residents commute to Albuquerque
Jobs & income B+: better than 66% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability D: more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns.
Household incomes here are higher than in 70% of U.S. towns. Working residents average 28 minutes each way (New Mexico 24, U.S. 26). Only 1% work in Sandia Knolls; the top destination outside it is Albuquerque (60%, 20 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 Sandia Knolls
More than half of Sandia Knolls works in Albuquerque
283 working residents, 60%, have their main job in Albuquerque, 20 miles away. That’s 60 times as many as work in Sandia Knolls itself. The commute map ↓
Sandia Knolls is a place people come home to
There are 30 jobs based in Sandia Knolls, about one for every ten working residents, so almost everyone works somewhere else. On a workday Sandia Knolls has about 1,000 people in it, 31% fewer than live here. Day and night ↓
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 473 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Sandia Knolls’ Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Sandia Knolls is better than 66% of U.S. towns. The poverty rate holds Sandia Knolls’ grade up (4.5%, U.S. 12.5%); job access by car pulls it down (ahead of 27% of U.S. towns). It also does well on household income.
Unemployment (3.8%) is left out: Sandia Knolls’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Sandia Knolls could be anywhere from C− to A−.
60% of working residents work in Albuquerque
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Sandia Knolls clocks in
60% of workers
14% of workers
2% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Sandia Knolls quiets down on a workday
On a workday 469 residents head out to work, 4 work right here, and 26 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Sandia Knolls on a workday afternoon, 31% fewer than live here.
0.06 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.
Mostly services: health care, schools and offices
30 jobs are based in Sandia Knolls. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Sandia Knolls’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Sandia Knolls, 2013 → 2023: 20 → 30. 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 28 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 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Sandia Knolls workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 710 commuters (the 11% 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 Sandia Knolls commutes less than 17 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Most trips from Sandia Knolls start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Sandia Knolls is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 0.8% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.4% across New Mexico, on an EPA index of 3.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 802 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 0.0 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). 10.6% of Sandia Knolls households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Sandia Knolls’ commuters take a bus or train.
Sandia Knolls is 1,354th of 6,308 U.S. towns of 1,000 to 2,000 on jobs and income
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Sandia Knolls, the top three, the last and three more from New Mexico.
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Chevy Chase Village MD | 1,978 | $250K | 1.2% | 2.6% | 3% | A+ |
| 3 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 815 | Tres Arroyos NM | 1,926 | $88K | 2.2% | 5.1% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 905 | Santa Ana Pueblo NM | 1,026 | $86K | 5.5% | 2.9% | 19% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 977 | Little Walnut Village NM | 1,445 | $125K | 2.8% | 0.0% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 1,352 | Grabill IN | 1,168 | $67K | 5.6% | 2.5% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,353 | Alhambra Township IL | 1,583 | $94K | 9.1% | 2.8% | 4% | B+ |
| 1,354 | Sandia Knolls NM | 1,445 | $92K | 4.5% | 3.8% | 1% | B+ |
| 1,355 | Stillman Valley IL | 1,058 | $88K | 8.6% | 1.2% | 5% | B+ |
| 1,356 | Pelham MA | 1,308 | $114K | 10.3% | 6.6% | 1% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 6,308 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | 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 Sandia Knolls: questions
What is the median household income in Sandia Knolls?
$91,827 (±$45,731) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Sandia Knolls?
4.5%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Sandia Knolls?
28 minutes each way on average, against 24 across New Mexico and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Sandia Knolls work?
1% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albuquerque (60%, 20 mi), Kirtland AFB (14%, 17 mi), North Valley (2%, 18 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Sandia Knolls walkable?
Sandia Knolls is more walkable than 8% of U.S. towns (Walkability D): an EPA walkability index of 3.7 out of 20, and 1% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Sandia Knolls without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 11% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Sandia Knolls, from the people who make the trip.
More of Sandia Knolls
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.