Elephant Butte is a very small city located in the state of New Mexico. With a population of 1,430 people and just one neighborhood, Elephant Butte is the 95th largest community in New Mexico.
Elephant Butte is neither predominantly blue-collar nor white-collar, instead having a mixed workforce of both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. Overall, Elephant Butte is a city of sales and office workers, service providers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Elephant Butte who work in sales jobs (18.01%), law enforcement and fire fighting (13.63%), and management occupations (12.70%).
Also of interest is that Elephant Butte has more people living here who work in computers and math than 95% of the places in the US.
Another notable thing is that Elephant Butte is an extremely popular destination for tourists and seasonal residents. So much of the population is seasonal such that the city’s population swells significantly during the vacation season, and drops again when the season ends. Because of this, much of the local economy is centered around tourism; some businesses may be operated only during the high season. During the low season, year-round residents will notice that the city is a substantially quieter place to live.
It is a fairly quiet city because there are relatively few of those groups of people who have a tendency to be noisy. (Children, for example, often can't help themselves from being noisy, and being parents ourselves, we know!) Elephant Butte has relatively few families with children living at home, and is quieter because of it. Renters and college students, for their own reasons, can also be noisy. Elephant Butte has few renters and college students. But the biggest reason it is quieter in Elephant Butte than in most places in America, is that there are just simply fewer people living here. If you think trees make good neighbors, Elephant Butte may be for you.
Compared to the rest of the country, citizens of Elephant Butte spend much less time in their cars: on average, their commute to work is only 13.03 minutes. This also means that noise and pollution levels in the city are less than they would otherwise be.
As is often the case in a small city, Elephant Butte doesn't have a public transportation system that people use for their commute.
In terms of college education, Elephant Butte is nearly on par with the US average for all cities of 21.84%: 19.68% of adults 25 and older in Elephant Butte have a bachelor's degree or advanced degree.
The per capita income in Elephant Butte in 2022 was $38,085, which is wealthy relative to New Mexico, and upper middle income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $152,340 for a family of four. However, Elephant Butte contains both very wealthy and poor people as well.
Elephant Butte is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Elephant Butte home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Elephant Butte residents report their race to be White. Elephant Butte also has a sizeable Hispanic population (people of Hispanic origin can be of any race). People of Hispanic or Latino origin account for 18.25% of the city’s residents. Important ancestries of people in Elephant Butte include German, English, Irish, Welsh, and Scots-Irish.
The most common language spoken in Elephant Butte is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Italian.
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.
Real Estate
This neighborhood has wide open spaces, few people, and lots of space to stretch out. If you like locations that fit that description, you may like this neighborhood. Based on NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis, with only 1 people per square mile living here, this neighborhood is less crowded than 99.4% of America. One of the notable things about is that it is one of the quietest neighborhoods in America, according to NeighborhoodScout's exclusive analysis and quantitative rating of quietness. When you are here, you will find it to be very quiet. If quiet and peaceful are your cup of tea, you may have found a great place for you.
In addition, the real estate in this neighborhood consists of more mobile homes than 99.0% of all neighborhoods in America, with 49.5% of the occupied housing here being classified as mobile homes. So if you are looking for a mobile home, or you like the look and feel of mobile home parks, this neighborhood might have the setting you desire.
Furthermore, vacant homes and apartments are a significant characteristic of this neighborhood. In fact, with 49.8% of the residential real estate vacant, the neighborhood claims the distinction of having a higher vacancy rate than 98.7% of the neighborhoods in America. This can either be because much of the property is seasonally occupied, like in many vacation areas, or that much of the real estate is more permanently abandoned.
Occupations
It used to be that most Americans lived on the farm, or otherwise made their living from the land, the forests, or the sea. With global trade and an economy increasingly based on providing services to one another, fewer people farm, fish or harvest timber now than at any time in American history. But according to NeighborhoodScout's leading analysis, the neighborhood stands apart from most American neighborhood due to the proportion of its residents still working in these fields. With 7.2% of the workforce so employed, this neighborhood has a greater concentration of such workers than 98.2% of U.S. neighborhoods.
Length of Commute
Regardless of the means by which residents commute, this neighborhood has a length of commute that is notable. Residents of the neighborhood have the pleasure of having one of the shortest commutes to work of any neighborhood in America. 64.5% 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 97.4% of U.S. neighborhoods. Less time commuting means more time for other things in life.
People
Astoundingly, the neighborhood has one of the highest concentrations of divorcees living here than of any neighborhood, a higher concentration than NeighborhoodScout found in 96.4% of U.S. neighborhoods. This may be because people living here divorce more often than others, or that divorced people move here after they become divorced. If you are divorced, you will be in good company in this particular Elephant Butte neighborhood.
In addition, if you're nearing retirement age, or in retirement, the is an excellent choice for you to consider for top-quality retirement living. This neighborhood is rated by NeighborhoodScout as among the top 9.8% of retiree-friendly neighborhoods in New Mexico, combining peace and quiet, safety from crime, and offering diverse housing options from which retirees can choose. Maybe it's because of these amenities that a large proportion of the residents here are college educated seniors, mixed with other age groups. For these and other reasons, NeighborhoodScout identifies this neighborhood as a top-notch place to consider if you are thinking of or planning to retire in New Mexico.
Diversity
Did you know that the neighborhood has more Welsh and Lithuanian ancestry people living in it than nearly any neighborhood in America? It's true! In fact, 4.2% of this neighborhood's residents have Welsh ancestry and 1.4% have Lithuanian ancestry.
Migration / Stability
Do you like to be surrounded by people from all over the country or world, with different perspectives and life experiences? Or do you instead prefer to be in a neighborhood where most residents have lived there for a long time, creating a sense of cohesiveness? NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals that this neighborhood stands out among American neighborhoods for the uniqueness of the mobility of its residents. More residents of the neighborhood live here today that also were living in this same neighborhood five years ago than is found in 98.2% of U.S. neighborhoods. This neighborhood is really made up of people who know each other, don't move often, and have lived here in this very neighborhood for quite a while.
How wealthy a neighborhood is, from very wealthy, to middle income, to low income is very formative with regard to the personality and character of a neighborhood. Equally important is the rate of people, particularly children, who live below the federal poverty line. In some wealthy gated communities, the areas immediately surrounding can have high rates of childhood poverty, which indicates other social issues. NeighborhoodScout's analysis reveals both aspects of income and poverty for this neighborhood.
The neighbors in the neighborhood in Elephant Butte are low income, making it among the lowest income neighborhoods in America. NeighborhoodScout's research shows that this neighborhood has an income lower than 90.7% of U.S. neighborhoods. With 21.6% of the children here below the federal poverty line, this neighborhood has a higher rate of childhood poverty than 71.1% of U.S. neighborhoods.
The old saying "you are what you eat" is true. But it is also true that you are what you do for a living. The types of occupations your neighbors have shape their character, and together as a group, their collective occupations shape the culture of a place.
In the neighborhood, 28.7% of the working population is employed in executive, management, and professional occupations. The second most important occupational group in this neighborhood is manufacturing and laborer occupations, with 27.3% of the residents employed. Other residents here are employed in sales and service jobs, from major sales accounts, to working in fast food restaurants (27.3%), and 12.1% in government jobs, whether they are in local, state, or federal positions.
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 83.4% of households. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish, Italian and Polish.
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 Elephant Butte, NM, residents most commonly identify their ethnicity or ancestry as German (14.6%). There are also a number of people of English ancestry (7.5%), and residents who report Mexican roots (5.6%), and some of the residents are also of Irish ancestry (5.0%), along with some Welsh ancestry residents (4.2%), 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 (64.5% of working residents), one of the shortest commutes across America.
Here most residents (86.1%) drive alone in a private automobile to get to work. In addition, quite a number also carpool with coworkers, friends, or neighbors to get to work (10.9%) . In a neighborhood like this, as in most of the nation, many residents find owning a car useful for getting to work.
