Sandoval County loses up to $284 million a year while nearly 50,000 residents drive to work elsewhere
A new market analysis shows nearly 47,400 Sandoval County residents commute out daily, draining hundreds of millions in spending from local communities.
Sandoval County is losing up to $284 million a year in workday spending because nearly 47,400 residents drive out of the county for work every day — and the businesses that could serve them during those hours don’t exist here yet, according to a market analysis presented to county commissioners Wednesday.
Rio Rancho Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jerry Schalow presented the data at the April 8 Sandoval County Commission meeting, telling commissioners that $3.11 billion in payroll leaves the county annually with those commuters. Residents spending money on gas, meals and services near their out-of-county workplaces accounts for the estimated $170 million to $284 million drain. That pattern costs Sandoval County an estimated $2.4 million to $4.1 million in gross receipts tax revenue each year — and Rio Rancho an additional $4.4 million to $7.3 million — because the spending happens elsewhere, Schalow said.
“We have a strong, dynamic county,” Schalow told commissioners. “We have to recruit businesses. We have to flip that around.”
The largest share of commuters — nearly 36,900 — head to Albuquerque daily, with roughly 5,000 more traveling to Santa Fe and about 4,200 to Sandia National Laboratories or Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Schalow identified manufacturing and healthcare as the county’s top sectors for job growth. Nursing leads the list of unfilled local positions, driven largely by two hospitals — Sandoval Regional Medical Center and Presbyterian — and he pointed to recent changes to state medical malpractice law as a potential accelerant for expansion. “We need more specialties,” he said. “Orthopedics, vision, cancer treatment — all of those things.”
BY THE NUMBERS
- Sandoval County population: 160,000
- County workforce: 71,000
- Daily outbound commuters: 47,399
- Annual payroll leaving the county: $3.11 billion
- Estimated lost workday spending: $170M–$284M per year
- Estimated lost GRT revenue, Sandoval County: $2.4M–$4.1M per year
- Estimated lost GRT revenue, Rio Rancho: $4.4M–$7.3M per year
- Rio Rancho job growth, 2020–2025: 28.1% vs. 10.6% nationally
- Residents with associate degrees or trade certificates: 34%
- Recent college graduates who left NM within 4 years: 7,394