White Sands is a tiny town located in the state of New Mexico. With a population of 926 people and just one neighborhood, White Sands is the 114th largest community in New Mexico. White Sands has seen a significant amount of newer housing growth in recent years. Quite often, new home construction is the result of new residents moving in who are middle class or wealthier, attracted by jobs, a healthy local economy, or other amenities as they leave nearby or far away areas for greener pastures. This seems to be the case in White Sands, where the median household income is $87,059.00.
White Sands is a military town: the armed forces employs 15.05% of the workforce, making the military a major focus of life in the city. In the civilian sector, Public Service and Education are important in the local economy and are the town’s largest civilian employers, employing 45.60% and 13.21% of the civilian workforce respectively.
For a small town, there is also a high proportion of single, often educated, people living in White Sands. This is not typical for smaller communities in America, and adds a feeling of vibrancy to White Sands.
White Sands is a good choice for families with children because of several factors. Many other families with children live here, making it a place where both parents and children are more likely to develop social ties with other families. The town’s good public school district and large population of college-educated adults provide an environment conducive to academic success. Many people own their own single-family homes, providing areas for children to play and stability in the community. Finally, White Sands’s overall crime rate is lower than average for the country.
One of the benefits of White Sands is that there is very little traffic. The average commute to work is 12.53 minutes, which is substantially less than the national average. Not only does this mean that the drive to work is less aggravating, but noise and pollution levels are lower as a result.
Being a small town, White Sands does not have a public transit system used by locals to get to and from work.
The citizens of White Sands are among the most well-educated in the nation: 43.31% of adults in White Sands have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree, whereas the average US city has 21.84% holding at least a bachelor's degree.
The per capita income in White Sands in 2022 was $30,078, which is middle income relative to New Mexico, and lower middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $120,312 for a family of four. However, White Sands contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
White Sands is an extremely ethnically-diverse town. The people who call White Sands home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of White Sands residents report their race to be White, followed by Asian. White Sands also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 11.79% of the town’s residents. Important ancestries of people in White Sands include German, English, Irish, Norwegian, and European.
The most common language spoken in White Sands is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Korean.
The way a neighborhood looks and feels when you walk or drive around it, from its setting, its buildings, and its flavor, can make all the difference. This neighborhood has some really cool things about the way it looks and feels as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research. This might include anything from the housing stock to the types of households living here to how people get around.
Of note is NeighborhoodScout's research finding that the neighborhood has some of the lowest rates of children living in poverty of any neighborhood in the United States. In a nation where approximately 1 in 4 children are living in poverty, the community truly stands out from the rest in this regard.
In addition, of particular note, 4.1% of the people in the neighborhood currently reside in a correction facility, held due to punishment for a crime.
Also, the neighborhood is a great option for families, as revealed by NeighborhoodScout's research on this neighborhood. The combination of top public schools, low crime rates, and owner-occupied single family homes, make this neighborhood among the top 8.8% of family-friendly neighborhoods in the state of New Mexico. Many other families also live here, making it easy to socialize and develop a sense of community. In addition, families here highly value education, as is reflected by the strength of the local schools.
The neighborhood has a greater proportion of government workers living in it than 100.0% of the neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis. This is a unique feature of this neighborhood, and one that shapes its character.
Furthermore, with 14.8% of employed workers living in the neighborhood active in the military, this neighborhood has the distinction of having a higher proportion of people in the military than 99.6% of American neighborhoods. This is a major shaper of the neighborhood's culture and character.
In addition, there are more people living in the neighborhood employed as sales and service workers (58.0%) than almost any neighborhood in the country. From fast-food service workers to major sales accounts, sales and service workers make up the largest proportion of our national employment picture. But despite that size and importance nationally, this neighborhood still stands out as unique due to the dominance of people living here who work in such occupations.
Whether walking, biking, riding, or driving, the length of one's commute is an important factor for one's quality of life. The neighborhood stands out for its commute length, according to NeighborhoodScout's analysis. Residents of the neighborhood have the pleasure of having one of the shortest commutes to work of any neighborhood in America. 86.2% of the residents have a commute time from home to work (one way) of less than fifteen minutes. This is a higher proportion of residents enjoying a short trip to work than NeighborhoodScout found in 99.8% of U.S. neighborhoods. Less time commuting means more time for other things in life.
Uncrowded roads, rural America and space to be the individual you are. If you like these characteristics, this neighborhood may fit you. With just 1 residents per square mile, is less crowded than 99.4% of all U.S. neighborhoods.
In addition, renter-occupied real estate is dominant in the neighborhood. The percentage of rental real estate here, according to exclusive NeighborhoodScout analysis, is 100.0%, which is higher than 99.3% of the neighborhoods in America. If you were to buy and live in the property you bought here, you would be almost alone in doing so.
More people in choose to walk to work each day (19.0%) than almost any neighborhood in America. If you are attracted to the idea of being able to walk to work, this neighborhood could be a good choice.
Also, if your dream is to be able to ride your bike to work each day, look no further than this unique neighborhood. With 3.5% of residents in the neighborhood commuting on a bicycle to and from work daily, this neighborhood has more bicycle commuters than 96.8% of all neighborhoods in the U.S., according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis.
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Swiss and Croatian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 5.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Swiss ancestry and 1.0% have Croatian ancestry.
is also pretty special linguistically. Significantly, 2.8% of its residents five years old and above primarily speak Korean at home. While this may seem like a small percentage, it is higher than 97.3% of the neighborhoods in America.
The freedom of moving to new places versus the comfort of home. How much and how often people move not only can create diverse and worldly neighborhoods, but simultaneously it can produce a loss of intimacy with one's surroundings and a lack of connectedness to one's neighbors. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive research has identified this neighborhood as unique with regard to the transience of its populace. In the neighborhood, a greater proportion of the residents living here today did not live here five years ago than is found in 97.3% of U.S. Neighborhoods. This neighborhood, more than almost any other in America, has new residents from other areas.
There are two complementary measures for understanding the income of a neighborhood's residents: the average and the extremes. While a neighborhood may be relatively wealthy overall, it is equally important to understand the rate of people - particularly children - who are living at or below the federal poverty line, which is extremely low income. Some neighborhoods with a lower average income may actually have a lower childhood poverty rate than another with a higher average income, and this helps us understand the conditions and character of a neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in White Sands are upper-middle income, making it an above average income neighborhood. NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis reveals that this neighborhood has a higher income than 62.8% of the neighborhoods in America. In addition, 0.0% of the children seventeen and under living in this neighborhood are living below the federal poverty line, which is a lower rate of childhood poverty than is found in 100.0% of America's neighborhoods.
A neighborhood is far different if it is dominated by enlisted military personnel rather than people who earn their living by farming. It is also different if most of the neighbors are clerical support or managers. What is wonderful is the sheer diversity of neighborhoods, allowing you to find the type that fits your lifestyle and aspirations.
In the neighborhood, 45.6% of the working population is employed in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is executive, management, and professional occupations, with 43.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (42.0%), and 14.8% in the military.
Languages
The languages spoken by people in this neighborhood are diverse. These are tabulated as the languages people preferentially speak when they are at home with their families. The most common language spoken in the neighborhood is English, spoken by 80.9% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Korean.
Ethnicity / Ancestry
Culture is the shared learned behavior of peoples. Undeniably, different ethnicities and ancestries have different cultural traditions, and as a result, neighborhoods with concentrations of residents of one or another ethnicities or ancestries will express those cultures. It is what makes the North End in Boston so fun to visit for the Italian restaurants, bakeries, culture, and charm, and similarly, why people enjoy visiting Chinatown in San Francisco.
In the neighborhood in White Sands, NM, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (20.4%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (18.7%), and residents who report Irish roots (12.3%), and some of the residents are also of Asian ancestry (8.2%), along with some Mexican ancestry residents (7.9%), among others.
How you get to work – car, bus, train or other means – and how much of your day it takes to do so is a large quality of life and financial issue. Especially with gasoline prices rising and expected to continue doing so, the length and means of one's commute can be a financial burden. Some neighborhoods are physically located so that many residents have to drive in their own car, others are set up so many walk to work, or can take a train, bus, or bike. The greatest number of commuters in neighborhood spend under 15 minutes commuting one-way to work (86.2% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (64.1%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also hop out the door and walk to work to get to work (19.0%) and 9.6% of residents also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors for their daily commute. In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
