Los Alamos Market Demand Study

Los Alamos National Laboratory grew 50% in five years — from 12,000 to 18,500 employees. The county added 400 residents.

The Lab grew 50% in five years. The county added 400 residents. That gap tells the whole story.

Over 9,400 workers commute in daily, more than half the workforce, many from Santa Fe and Espanola, because there is almost nowhere to live. Rental vacancy sits at 0.8%. Rents doubled between 2018 and 2023; incomes rose 18%. The Lab pays whatever it takes to staff its missions, and everyone else competes for housing in a market priced for scientists and engineers.

Western Spaces prepared a market demand study for a proposed mixed-income rental development, documenting the gap between the county’s small supply of restricted below-market units and the larger pool of households that need them. In a market shaped by a single dominant employer, the need for affordable housing is clear — but it takes data to show how wide the gap has grown.