Herman's, Roy T., Garage and Service Station · Photo: Bill Eichelberger · CC BY-SA 4.0Thoreau’s household incomes are lower than in 92% of U.S. towns
Jobs & income D−: better than 80% of U.S. towns on income, poverty and job access.
Walkability C: more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns.
Working residents average 47 minutes each way (New Mexico 24, U.S. 26). Only 6% work in Thoreau; the top destination outside it is Gallup (28%, 31 miles).
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Work and commuting in Thoreau, in brief
Thoreau workers spend longer getting to work
The average trip takes 47 minutes each way, against 24 across New Mexico. Over a year that’s about 360 hours of commuting, 176 more than the state’s typical worker. Time on the road ↓
Thoreau and Gallup trade workers both ways
Gallup is the top workplace for Thoreau residents (28%) and also where the most people who work in Thoreau come from (27% of its jobs). The commute map ↓
A big share show a job far from home
43% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
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 328 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
What’s behind Thoreau’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty and job access, Thoreau is better than 80% of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Thoreau’s grade.
Unemployment (10.8%) is left out: Thoreau’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, Thoreau stays D−.
About 47 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 14.9 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Thoreau workers work from home, vs 12% across New Mexico. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 542 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.
28% of working residents work in Gallup
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
Where Thoreau clocks in
28% of workers
14% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
Half of Thoreau commutes less than 35 miles
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
About 43% 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.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 308 residents head out to work, 20 work right here, and 183 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
0.62 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.
What the 203 jobs in Thoreau are
203 jobs are based in Thoreau. Here is what they are, next to the jobs Thoreau’s own residents hold wherever they work.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Thoreau, 2013 → 2023: 383 → 203. 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.
Most trips from Thoreau start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Thoreau is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 2.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.4% across New Mexico, on an EPA index of 4.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 635 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). 13.1% of Thoreau households have no vehicle (New Mexico 5.6%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Thoreau’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Thoreau compares with U.S. towns of 1,400 to 2,700
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Thoreau, 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 | 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 5,433 | Lone Pine CA | 1,439 | $43K | 24.5% | 2.8% | 30% | D− |
| 5,434 | Lake Mack-Forest Hills FL | 2,200 | — | 20.4% | 32.5% | 0% | D− |
| 5,435 | Thoreau NM | 1,973 | $45K | 27.5% | 10.8% | 6% | D− |
| 5,436 | Lake Medina Shores TX | 1,411 | $47K | 31.1% | 6.8% | <1% | D− |
| 5,437 | Vernon AL | 1,823 | $28K | 34.8% | 12.1% | 26% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 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.
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 Thoreau: questions
What is the median household income in Thoreau?
$45,469 (±$11,121) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $64,059 across New Mexico and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Thoreau?
27.5%, against 17.8% across New Mexico and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Thoreau?
47 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 Thoreau work?
6% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Gallup (28%, 31 mi), Albuquerque (14%, 90 mi), Grants (5%, 28 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Thoreau walkable?
Thoreau is more walkable than 25% of U.S. towns (Walkability C): an EPA walkability index of 4.7 out of 20, and 2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Thoreau without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 13% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Thoreau, from the people who make the trip.
More of Thoreau
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.