New Mexico Population and Demographics

In this article, we'll explore the population statistics for New Mexico, including popular demographics data like median age, number of households, household income, gender, employment and unemployment rates, occupations, religion, and more.

We are using the latest American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year survey data from the US Census Bureau, which is accurate up to 2021.

Table of Contents

Population

There is a lot of data that lets us see how many people live in New Mexico. The most basic data is the total population, which is the total number of people living in New Mexico. The estimated population of New Mexico is 2,109,366 people, with a median age of 38.3.

We can look at the total population in New Mexico over the last 5 years to see how much it has changed.

Year Population Change 5-Year Change
2021
2,109,366
+0.59%
+1.18%
2020
2,097,021
+0.22%
-
2019
2,092,454
 0% -
2018
2,092,434
+0.36%
-
2017
2,084,828
 - -

Population of New Mexico by Race and Ethnicity

We can also look at how the population has changed over the last 5 years by each of the race/ethnicity types as defined by the US Census Bureau.

Race 2021 2017 Change
White
36%
38.2%
 -5.76%
Black/African American
1.8%
1.8%
 0.00%
Native
8.5%
8.7%
 -2.30%
Hispanic
49.6%
48.2%
 +2.90%
Asian
1.5%
1.3%
 +15.38%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
0.1%
0%
 0.00%
Two Or More Races
2.2%
1.6%
 +37.50%
Other
0.3%
0.2%
 +50.00%

This data can be very important for a number of reasons, including social and economic research, planning and development, and marketing to a multi-cultural population.

Note that the Native group includes both Native American and Alaskan Native people.

Population of New Mexico by Age and Gender

The age and gender of a population is another interesting demographic statistic because it lets us track trends in the population over time. For example, we can see how the population has changed over the last 5 years by median age as a total, and also by male and female.

Year Total Male Female
2021 38.3 +0.52% 37.1 +1.37% 39.6 0%
2020 38.1 +0.79% 36.6 +0.83% 39.6 +0.51%
2019 37.8 +0.8% 36.3 +0.55% 39.4 +0.77%
2018 37.5 +0.54% 36.1 +0.56% 39.1 +0.51%
2017 37.3 - 35.9 - 38.9 -

The median age of New Mexico gives you an idea of the age distribution, with half of the population being older than the median age and half being younger.

This can then be used to infer and compare against birth rates, parent ages, and more metrics to understand the population. For example, an increasing median age indicates an aging population, which can be a sign of a declining population in terms of birth rates and workforce participation.

Age 2021 2017
(Years) Male Female Male Female
0 to 9 137,821 -6.07% 133,602 -7.34% 129,621 124,050
10 to 19 144,915 +1.53% 137,436 +3.13% 147,131 141,748
20 to 29 150,105 -3.07% 139,466 -2.53% 145,516 135,958
30 to 39 134,686 +5.24% 128,626 +3.84% 141,871 133,636
40 to 49 118,609 +2.63% 122,679 -0.37% 121,698 122,208
50 to 59 133,673 -5.9% 143,435 -8.19% 125,895 132,034
60 to 69 115,372 +8.25% 127,874 +8.6% 125,193 139,219
70+ 96,905 +14.32% 119,624 +10.09% 111,523 132,065

Median Household Income

The latest median household income of New Mexico is $54,020.00.

In simple terms, the median income is the middle income of a group of people. Half of the people in the group make more than the median income, and half make less. The median income is a good indicator of the overall income of a group of people, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more.

Median Income by Age

We can also look at the median income by age to see how the median income varies by age, and how it compares to the overall median income for New Mexico.

  • Under 25
    $30,939.00
  • 25 to 44
    $58,701.00
  • 45 to 64
    $62,148.00
  • 65 and over
    $45,450.00

Average Household Income

Whenever we ask what is the average household income in New Mexico, we are actually talking about the mean household income.

This is calculated by adding up all the incomes of all the households in New Mexico, and then dividing that number by the total number of households. This is a good way to get a general idea of the average income of a group of people, but it can be skewed by a very high or very low incomes.

The average household income of New Mexico is currently $74,363.00.

In terms of accurately summarizing income at a geographic level, the median income is a better metric than the average income because it isn't affected by a small number of very high or very low incomes.

If you had an area where the average income was greater than the median, it can mean that there is significant income inequality, with income being concentrated in a small number of wealthy households.

4.86% of households in New Mexico are classed as high income households (making $200,000+ per year).

Household Income Tiers

The US Census Bureau divides households into income tiers based on the median income for the area. This is a good way to compare the income of New Mexico against other areas.

  • Less than $24,999
    23.81%
  • $25,000 to $49,999
    22.98%
  • $50,000 to $74,999
    17.69%
  • $75,000 to $99,999
    11.61%
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    13.61%
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    5.45%
  • $200,000 or more
    4.86%

Per Capita Income

The per capita income in New Mexico is $29,624.00.

Per capita income is the average income of a person in a given area. It is calculated by dividing the total income of New Mexico by the total population of New Mexico.

This is different from the average or mean income because it includes and accounts for all people in New Mexico, including people like children, the elderly, unemployed people, retired people, and more.

Education Levels

We can also look at the education levels in New Mexico to see how many people have a high school degree, a bachelor's degree, or a graduate degree.

Educational attainment is a good indicator of the overall education level of a population, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more to see how education levels affect income, unemployment rates, and more.

  • Master's degree or higher
    16.49%
  • Bachelor's degree
    29.17%
  • Some college or associate's degree
    11.74%
  • High school diploma or equivalent
    39.52%
  • Less than high school diploma
    3.07%

Employment

Employment rates are all based around the total population in New Mexico that are over the age of 16.

The total population of New Mexico over the age of 16 is 1,682,568.

Of those people, a total of 57.30% are working or actively looking for work. This is called the labor force participation rate.

The participation rate is a useful market measure because it shows the relative amount of labor resources available to the economy.

The employment to total population rate in New Mexico is 52.90%.

Employment by Age

We can look at the employment rates by age to see how it compares to the overall employment rate.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
16 to 19 years 115,752 35.10% 17.10%
20 to 24 years 140,177 72.60% 10.40%
25 to 29 years 141,297 76.40% 8.20%
30 to 34 years 139,208 77.60% 6.80%
35 to 44 years 260,723 78.10% 5.70%
45 to 54 years 241,097 74.90% 4.50%
55 to 59 years 136,314 67.00% 5.10%
60 to 64 years 138,459 49.90% 4.30%
65 to 74 years 224,882 23.50% 5.00%
75 years and over 144,659 6.00% 3.10%

Employment by Race

Another very interesting employment statistic we can look at is the employment and unemployment rates by race in New Mexico. The table below shows the rates for each of the ethnicity groups types defined by the US Census Bureau.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
White 1,113,427 57.10% 6.00%
Black or African American 35,722 60.90% 9.00%
American Indian and Alaska Native 151,708 54.10% 11.10%
Asian 28,244 66.20% 4.60%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 1,482 52.20% 7.60%
Other 163,223 56.90% 6.50%
Two or more races 188,762 59.40% 6.80%
Hispanic or Latino 782,410 60.10% 6.70%
Not Hispanic or Latino 664,400 54.10% 5.50%

Occupations

In this section we can look at the most common occupations in New Mexico as well as the gender breakdown and earnings of them.

The total population of civilian employees that are 16 years old or older in New Mexico is 889,428, with median earnings of $34,722.00.

Women in New Mexico earning approximately 75.00% of the men's earnings.

Population Earnings
Total 889,428 $34,722.00
Male 465,393 $39,989.00
Female 424,035 $29,985.00

Occupations by Category

In the table below, we can break down the population and earnings even further by occupation. The list of occupation categories below will show you how many people are employed in each category and the median earnings of each profession.

Occupation Employed Earnings
Management 86,429 $60,595.00
Business and Financial 38,053 $55,913.00
Computer and Mathematical 21,462 $68,442.00
Architecture and Engineering 21,340 $91,167.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 14,409 $77,196.00
Community and Social Service 18,505 $39,949.00
Legal 11,775 $61,267.00
Educational and Library 62,386 $40,168.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 16,329 $29,621.00
Healthcare Practitioners 52,624 $63,580.00
Healthcare Support 39,535 $20,017.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 13,098 $38,206.00
Law Enforcement 10,873 $54,676.00
Food Preparation and Serving 51,642 $14,525.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 35,238 $20,225.00
Personal Care and Service 22,596 $16,627.00
Sales 85,053 $25,080.00
Office and Administrative Support 102,191 $30,481.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 8,045 $23,941.00
Construction and Extraction 54,236 $37,070.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 33,268 $41,386.00
Production 30,266 $32,386.00
Transportation and Material Moving 32,902 $36,552.00

Occupations by Gender

The table below shows the same occupations from the list above, but we have split them by male and female to see how many male and females work in each occupation, the median earnings, and the male to female ratio of earnings.

That last metric is important because it can be used to look at the gender pay gap between men and women.

Occupation Male Female
Population Earnings Population Earnings
Management 48,817 $66,999.00 37,612 $53,890.00
Business and Financial 16,401 $64,745.00 21,652 $53,129.00
Computer and Mathematical 15,446 $70,000.00 6,016 $64,133.00
Architecture and Engineering 18,060 $93,979.00 3,280 $77,368.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 9,013 $84,306.00 5,396 $63,497.00
Community and Social Service 6,196 $38,735.00 12,309 $40,677.00
Legal 4,482 $79,796.00 7,293 $53,697.00
Educational and Library 17,972 $44,989.00 44,414 $37,897.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 7,836 $36,886.00 8,493 $24,136.00
Healthcare Practitioners 14,255 $76,871.00 38,369 $60,229.00
Healthcare Support 7,333 $22,112.00 32,202 $19,355.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 10,259 $40,193.00 2,839 $30,940.00
Law Enforcement 8,835 $56,906.00 2,038 $43,945.00
Food Preparation and Serving 23,753 $16,356.00 27,889 $13,646.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 20,744 $23,155.00 14,494 $15,140.00
Personal Care and Service 6,848 $21,070.00 15,748 $14,999.00
Sales 41,176 $32,258.00 43,877 $19,672.00
Office and Administrative Support 24,761 $35,017.00 77,430 $29,262.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 6,613 $26,649.00 1,432 $13,039.00
Construction and Extraction 52,870 $37,286.00 1,366 $28,565.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 32,010 $41,205.00 1,258 $44,587.00
Production 22,655 $36,765.00 7,611 $21,560.00
Transportation and Material Moving 28,312 $39,308.00 4,590 $25,129.00

Households and Family Size

A household defined bu the US Census Bureau is a group of people who occupy a housing unit. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, group of rooms, or single room occupied as separate living quarters.

There are currently 797,596 households in New Mexico, with an average household size of 2.59 people.

A family is defined as a group of two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together in the same household.

There are 497,024 families in New Mexico with an average family size of 3.3 people.

Households by Marital Status

The four categories of household by marital status are:

  • Married-couple family
  • Male householder with no spouse present
  • Female household with no spouse present
  • Nonfamily household

The table below shows the total number of households and families, with the average sizes of each.

Married Male Female Nonfamily
Total Households 339,742 48,907 108,375 300,572
Average Household Size 3.27 3.68 3.75 1.23
Total Families 339,742 48,907 108,375 0
Average Household Size 3.24 3.24 3.51 0

Poverty

Of the 497,024 families in New Mexico, 13.80% are considered to be below the poverty threshold.

The table below shows the latest poverty thresholds in New Mexico:

Household Size Poverty Threshold
1 Person $14,580.00
2 People $19,720.00
3 People $24,860.00
4 People $30,000.00
5 People $35,140.00
6 People $40,280.00
7 People $45,420.00
8 People $50,560.00

Housing

There are 937,397 housing units in New Mexico.

The table below shows the split between occupied and vacant units:

Total Percentage
Occupied 797,596 85.09%
Vacant 139,801 14.91%

24.63% of the total 937,397 housing units in New Mexico are rental units. This is approximately 230,852 properties.

For owner-occupied housing units, a total of 543,834 are occupied by the owner - or 58.02% of the total.

Rental Rates

The median rent for a property in New Mexico is $897.00.

In the chart below, we can look at the number of rental properties in New Mexico that fall into a particular rent range. These can then be used to compare with other areas, or to see how they have changed over time.

  • No rent paid
    22,910
  • Less than $500
    27,237
  • $500 to $999
    110,311
  • $1,000 to $1,499
    67,828
  • $1,500 to $1,999
    19,633
  • $2,000 to $2,499
    3,878
  • $2,500 to $2,999
    894
  • $3,000 or more
    1,071

Property Value

The median value of a property in New Mexico is $184,800.00.

Just like with rental rates, we can look at the number of properties in New Mexico that fall into a particular value range.

  • Less than $50,000
    58,242
  • $50,000 to $99,999
    61,961
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    78,401
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    99,251
  • $200,000 to $299,999
    121,604
  • $300,000 to $499,999
    84,449
  • $500,000 to $999,999
    31,901
  • $1,000,000 or more
    8,025

Property Age

We can also look at the age of properties in New Mexico. The chart below shows the number of properties in New Mexico that fall into a particular age range.

  • 1939 or earlier
    40,596
  • 1940 to 1949
    36,855
  • 1950 to 1959
    89,263
  • 1960 to 1969
    89,947
  • 1970 to 1979
    163,392
  • 1980 to 1989
    158,244
  • 1990 to 1999
    161,992
  • 2000 to 2009
    139,357
  • 2010 to 2013
    56,400
  • 2014 or later
    1,351

Vehicles per Household

The number of vehicles available per household can be a good indicator of the level of affluence in an area. The chart below shows the number of households in New Mexico that have a particular number of vehicles available.

  • No vehicles available
    46,125
  • 1 vehicle available
    263,550
  • 2 vehicles available
    289,379
  • 3 or more vehicles available
    198,542

Commuting to Work

In this section, we can also look at how people in New Mexico get to work. The chart below shows the number of people in New Mexico that commute to work in a particular way.

22.9 minutes is the average travel time to work for people in New Mexico.

These commute times can be compared to other date like income and educational levels to see how they relate to each other and if there are any trends in the data that might suggest a correlation.

  • Less than 5 minutes
    34,292
  • 5 to 9 minutes
    105,415
  • 10 to 14 minutes
    131,236
  • 15 to 19 minutes
    144,548
  • 20 to 24 minutes
    119,625
  • 25 to 29 minutes
    46,623
  • 30 to 34 minutes
    97,792
  • 35 to 39 minutes
    16,496
  • 40 to 44 minutes
    22,415
  • 45 to 59 minutes
    45,205
  • 60 to 89 minutes
    32,572
  • 90 or more minutes
    18,110

Summary

We've covered a LOT of demographic and population data for New Mexico in this article! Hopefully you have found it very useful in your research of the area.

If you use any of the data found on this page, please consider linking back to USPopulation.org as the source and if you have any feedback or data requests, click here to contact us.

Counties in New Mexico

We have data for 33 counties in New Mexico. Click on a county below to see more information about the demographics of that county, with links to cities and towns within that county.

Zip Codes in New Mexico

If you want to find out more about the population and demographics of specific zip codes in New Mexico, click on the links below.