Population/People

The population of Los Alamos is about 18,000 people. There are two communities in the County: the town of Los Alamos has about 12,000 residents and the other 6,000 people live in the community of White Rock. About 190,000 people live within a forty mile radius of Los Alamos.

Los Alamos is made up of people from throughout the world, and the nature of the work of the national laboratory means that there is a constant flux. LANL employs a large number of students from throughout the world as well. Ninety-two percent of the residents of Los Alamos classify themselves as "white", 3.2% "Asian or Pacific Islander", less than 1% "black", and 4.2% "other". About fourteen percent of Los Alamos residents are of Hispanic ancestry. Lands belonging to the San Ildefonso Pueblo, a sovereign Native American tribe, are located within and adjacent to Los Alamos County.

The people of Los Alamos have among the highest levels of educational attainment of any community anywhere. Fifty-three percent possess college degrees and nearly 30% possess graduate degrees.

Los Alamos has experienced low population growth because we are surrounded by National Forest, National Park, Pueblo, and other Federal lands.  Although there have been some new lands made available for new housing in recent years, addition of housing units has been largely offset by a trend toward smaller household sizes.