Sandoval County, NM

County Profile

153,604 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Sandoval County, NM.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

49out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 17% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 14 sources
Opportunity1,165th of 1,463 counties measured39
Schools1,298th of 1,377 counties measured12
Growth731st of 1,453 counties measured50
Housing affordability1,036th of 1,462 counties measured68
Climate1,439th of 1,463 counties measured47
Physical resilienceTop 41% of 1,463 counties measured66
Access879th of 1,463 counties measured76
Economic stabilityTop 40% of 1,463 counties measured67
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable counties measured: unemployment is 5.7% and the Opportunity signal places Sandoval County in the bottom 20%.

In the public schools here, 13% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 16.4 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 832 units authorized over the past twelve months, 40% below the prior year.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
153,604
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$86,636
Top 12% nationally
Density
41/sq mi
3,710.2 sq mi of land
Median age
41.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Sandoval County
New Mexico
Metro area
Nearest major airport
SAF
45 mi · Santa Fe Rgnl
Median home value
$313,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.7% — higher than in all but 9% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Unemployment has been rising for 4 consecutive months, most recently 5.7%.

Employment fell 3.0% over the past year, to 70,351 employed residents.

34% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 84% of measured US counties.

Median household income of $86,636 is higher than in 88% of measured US counties.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$77,79681st percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$66,23470th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$3,1182024 ACS 5-Year$86,636Top 12%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,2322024 ACS 5-Year$41,150Top 22%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$56,608Top 49%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±1.0%2024 ACS 5-Year10.1%Top 28%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.8 min2024 ACS 5-Year32.4 minBottom 14%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year33.8%Top 16%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year71.2%17th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202670,351Top 31%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−1.8%Bottom 28%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−3.0%Bottom 9%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202674,58169th percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year75.7%Top 50%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.2%2024 ACS 5-Year0.5%73rd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026+0.6%Bottom 11%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20265.7%Bottom 9%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year16.8%91st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/077.62.7
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.7% in July 2026. It has been rising for the last 4 months, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202487k69k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $86,636 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.

Largest occupations — Albuquerque, NM

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides16,860$30,170
Fast Food and Counter Workers14,510$29,140
Retail Salespersons11,370$34,160
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive11,020$46,950
Registered Nurses10,290$96,040
Customer Service Representatives10,270$41,790

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

13% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 27% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 16.4 students for every full-time teacher across 40 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
41
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
16.4
across 40 of them
Math proficiency
12.7%
Bottom 6% in New Mexico
Reading proficiency
26.9%
Bottom 13% in New Mexico
The 12 largest of 41 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Cleveland High SchoolRIO RANCHO2,59619.210%30%
Rio Rancho HighRIO RANCHO2,56819.9——
Rio Rancho Middle SchoolRIO RANCHO1,02417.710%30%
Mountain View MiddleRIO RANCHO93122.7——
Bernalillo HighBERNALILLO82416.53%20%
Lincoln MiddleRIO RANCHO80521.8——
Ernest Stapleton ElementaryRIO RANCHO79819.0——
Vista Grande ElementaryRIO RANCHO78623.1——
Eagle Ridge MiddleRIO RANCHO73214.4——
Sandia Vista ElementaryRIO RANCHO71320.4——
Enchanted Hills ElementaryRIO RANCHO67316.4——
Cielo Azul ElementaryRIO RANCHO64016.8——

93.2% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against New Mexico’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 6% below the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 93.6, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Albuquerque, NM Metro Area is up 45% over five years, and up 2.2% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $2,296 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.73% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,464, close to the $1,427 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,464 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $58,600 a year, about 68% of the median household income here of $86,636.

The typical renter household here spends 30% of its income on rent, at the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,427 a month.

A median home at $313,800 costs 3.4 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $92,751, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Cost of living
93.6

Prices here run about 6% below the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Albuquerque, NM Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
30.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
3.4×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,464
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,427
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$313,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Sandoval County’s median household income of $86,636, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Albuquerque, NM Metro Area’s figure202393.6Top 47%of 8872023
Home price change (1 year)the Albuquerque, NM Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+2.2%24th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Albuquerque, NM Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+44.6%48th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Albuquerque, NM Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+93.5%49th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year3.4Bottom 20%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year83.5%93rd percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±602024 ACS 5-Year60,92585th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,185Bottom 28%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$2,036Bottom 23%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,464Bottom 26%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$372024 ACS 5-Year$1,427Bottom 9%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,5932024 ACS 5-Year$313,80083rd percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$592024 ACS 5-Year$2,29672nd percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$2,8962024 ACS 5-Year$92,751Top 20%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.02%2024 ACS 5-Year0.73%44th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±3%2024 ACS 5-Year30.0%Bottom 28%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±2012024 ACS 5-Year88471st percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year1.5%34th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year5.2%17th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±5612024 ACS 5-Year4,03075th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

50/ 100
Ranks 731 of 1,453 published county profiles
Permitting has been falling for the last 2 years of a series running from 2020 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 6% since 2020, reaching 157,757 in 2024.

Population is still rising but the pace is easing: 157,757 residents in 2024, up 1.2% over the year, a smaller gain than the year before.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 832 units permitted over the past twelve months, none were in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show Sandoval County gained about 1.3% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $77,796, above the $66,234 of households that moved out.

At 5.4 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
832
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
5.4
Top 26% nationally
Year over year
−40%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024158k149k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been rising for the last 4 years, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+1.3%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
38%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$77,796
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$66,234
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Bernalillo County, NM 4,183 people · 45% of arrivals
  2. Santa Fe County, NM 559 people · 6.1% of arrivals
  3. Maricopa County, AZ 176 people · 1.9% of arrivals
  4. Doña Ana County, NM 123 people · 1.3% of arrivals
  5. McKinley County, NM 113 people · 1.2% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Bernalillo County, NM 3,033 people · 40% of departures
  2. Santa Fe County, NM 246 people · 3.3% of departures
  3. Maricopa County, AZ 193 people · 2.6% of departures
  4. Valencia County, NM 190 people · 2.5% of departures
  5. San Juan County, NM 103 people · 1.4% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2020202120222023202420252k834
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+22%).

Weather & climate

3 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 74°F and January a low of 9°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 25.5 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 44, in the Good band, and about 2 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

0°20°40°60°80°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station LOS ALAMOS 13 W, 23.5 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND3.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year712024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals25.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals9°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals74°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals31991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year22024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year442024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals37°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
44
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
71
90th percentile index
Days above 100
2
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

66 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, earthquake and wildfire, with inland flooding alone responsible for 67% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

WildfireElevated
EarthquakeHigh
DroughtModerate
AvalancheModerate
Volcanic activityModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, lightning, inland flooding, heat wave, winter weather, hail, strong wind, cold wave, tornado, ice storm, tsunami, coastal flooding, hurricane.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offenses — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Sandoval County has a modeled homicide rate of about 6.4 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 14.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 30.8 per 100,000 residents in Sandoval County.

Homicide
6.4
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
14.7
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
30.8
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
12.8
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Sandoval County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Santa Fe Rgnl at 45 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year90.1%Top 25%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle45 miBottom 37%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle4Top 43%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±0.7%2024 ACS 5-Year6.8%Top 22%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Santa Fe RgnlSAF45 mi8,366 ft
Albuquerque Intl SunportABQ47 mi13,793 ft
Taos RgnlSKX86 mi8,600 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
Housing, IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology, or every source with how often each updates.