Kirtland AFB vs Sandia Knolls

A side-by-side comparison of Kirtland AFB and Sandia Knolls: population, income, housing, and more.

Kirtland AFB and Sandia Knolls are places in New Mexico. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Kirtland AFB has the higher population (3,421 vs 1,436 in Sandia Knolls). Sandia Knolls has the higher median household income ($102,801 vs $79,301 in Kirtland AFB). Since 2019, Sandia Knolls's population has grown faster (-2.6% vs -20.1%).

Population, income & housing

	Kirtland AFB	Sandia Knolls
Population	3,421	1,436
Median age	23.7 yrs	46.2 yrs
Median household income	$79,301	$102,801
Median home value	—	$286,400
Median gross rent	$1,788	$1,030
Housing units	1,276	690
Homeownership rate	2.2%	83.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.1%	43.8%
Unemployment rate	13.9%	2.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kirtland AFB	Sandia Knolls
Population	4,279 → 3,421 (-20.1%)	1,475 → 1,436 (-2.6%)
Median household income	$61,645 → $79,301 (+28.6%)	$88,750 → $102,801 (+15.8%)
Median home value	—	$209,800 → $286,400 (+36.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,399 → $1,788 (+27.8%)	$1,507 → $1,030 (-31.7%)

Kirtland AFB

Population

4,2793,421

Median household income

$61,645$79,301

Median gross rent

$1,399$1,788

Sandia Knolls

Population

1,4751,436

Median household income

$88,750$102,801

Median home value

$209,800$286,400

Median gross rent

$1,507$1,030

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kirtland AFB	Sandia Knolls
Under 5	14.9%	2.5%
5 to 17	16.8%	15.7%
18 to 24	23.6%	16.7%
25 to 34	22.4%	5.2%
35 to 44	13.5%	7.0%
45 to 54	6.3%	19.4%
55 to 64	0.0%	12.3%
65 to 74	1.5%	15.7%
75 and over	0.9%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kirtland AFB	Sandia Knolls
White (non-Hispanic)	49.1%	75.3%
Black or African American	12.1%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	2.1%
Asian	7.4%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.6%
Two or more races	4.8%	0.8%
Hispanic or Latino	26.0%	21.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kirtland AFB	Sandia Knolls
No high school diploma	2.2%	3.5%
High school graduate	9.3%	15.6%
Some college or associate's	44.4%	37.0%
Bachelor's degree	25.4%	19.8%
Graduate or professional degree	18.8%	24.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kirtland AFB	Sandia Knolls
Drove alone	78.6%	80.2%
Carpooled	10.5%	7.5%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	6.9%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.0%
Worked from home	1.7%	11.6%
Other means	1.6%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kirtland AFB	Sandia Knolls
1-unit, detached	39.6%	91.3%
1-unit, attached	38.1%	1.6%
2 to 4 units	21.4%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	7.1%

Poverty & households

	Kirtland AFB	Sandia Knolls
Poverty rate	12.9%	2.5%
Average household size	2.38	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	9	28
Median year structure built	2002	1985