Work & commute · White Sands

Work & commute in White Sands, NM

Most working residents leave White Sands for work: only 7% work in town. The top destinations are Las Cruces (27%), El Paso (18%) and Albuquerque (8%). Half commute less than 37 miles.

Census LEHD commute flows, 2023 Census ACS commute times

Work in town

14 of 207 working residents

Typical commute

37 mi

Half commute less than this, straight-line

Average commute time

11 min

One way, from the Census survey

Work from home

of workers, from the Census survey

Coming and going

Who leaves, who stays, who comes in

On a workday 193 White Sands residents head out of town to work, 14 work right here, and 785 people come in from elsewhere to fill jobs in White Sands.

193live here, work elsewhere

14live and work here

785work here, live elsewhere

Leave for workStayCome in

The map

Where White Sands goes to work

Las Cruces18.5 mi away

27%56

El Paso, TX36.9 mi away

18%37

Albuquerque188.5 mi away

8%16

White Sands (in town)right here

7%14

Holloman AFB39.1 mi away

3%6

Anthony26.3 mi away

1%3

Farmington317.3 mi away

1%3

San Antonio, TX512.6 mi away

1%3

Lubbock, TX278.3 mi away

1%3

Deming74.8 mi away

1%2

Everywhere elseother towns and states

31%64

Lines run between town centers; a thicker line means more commuters. The top 10 towns each way.

How far

How far White Sands commutes

Straight-line distance from home to work, for every working resident. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.

34%

27%

31%

9%Under 10 mi

34%10–24 mi

27%25–50 mi

31%Over 50 mi

Job hub or commuter town?

White Sands is a job hub

3.86jobs per working resident

A job hub

3.9 jobs for every working resident, so more people commute in than out.

The jobs

What the jobs in White Sands are

799 jobs are based in White Sands. Here is what they are, next to the jobs White Sands’s own residents hold wherever they work.

Jobs based in White Sands

799 jobs

Goods (factories, building, farms)0%

Trade, transport & utilities10%

Services (health, schools, offices…)90%

$1,250 a month or less4%

$1,251–$3,333 a month14%

Over $3,333 a month82%

Jobs White Sands residents hold

207 working residents

Goods (factories, building, farms)16%

Trade, transport & utilities20%

Services (health, schools, offices…)64%

$1,250 a month or less18%

$1,251–$3,333 a month32%

Over $3,333 a month49%

+7%

Jobs based in White Sands, 2013 → 2023: 744 → 799. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.

About these numbers

How to read this page

Every worker, home to workThe Census links each worker’s home block to their main job’s block, for jobs covered by unemployment insurance. That’s most jobs, but not the self-employed.

Where the employer saysA job counts where the employer reports it. Some big employers report one address for many sites, which can make a few commutes look longer than they are.

Two surveysFlows, distances and jobs: LEHD 2023. Commute time and working from home: the Census American Community Survey.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs; American Community Survey 5-year estimates.