Capitan vs Ruidoso

A side-by-side comparison of Capitan and Ruidoso: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ruidoso has the higher population (7,701 vs 1,262 in Capitan). Capitan has the higher median household income ($50,299 vs $50,259 in Ruidoso). Ruidoso has the higher median home value ($229,100 vs $128,800 in Capitan).

Population, income & housing

	Capitan	Ruidoso
Population	1,262	7,701
Median age	52.2 yrs	44.4 yrs
Median household income	$50,299	$50,259
Median home value	$128,800	$229,100
Median gross rent	$914	$924
Housing units	812	8,262
Homeownership rate	93.8%	69.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.2%	30.9%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	4.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Capitan	Ruidoso
Population	1,518 → 1,262 (-16.9%)	7,791 → 7,701 (-1.2%)
Median household income	$42,589 → $50,299 (+18.1%)	$50,114 → $50,259 (+0.3%)
Median home value	$152,900 → $128,800 (-15.8%)	$180,700 → $229,100 (+26.8%)
Median gross rent	$795 → $914 (+15.0%)	$770 → $924 (+20.0%)

Capitan

Population

1,5181,262

Median household income

$42,589$50,299

Median home value

$152,900$128,800

Median gross rent

$795$914

Ruidoso

Population

7,7917,701

Median household income

$50,114$50,259

Median home value

$180,700$229,100

Median gross rent

$770$924

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Capitan	Ruidoso
Under 5	2.2%	6.6%
5 to 17	19.8%	13.2%
18 to 24	5.1%	5.4%
25 to 34	4.8%	12.3%
35 to 44	9.8%	14.0%
45 to 54	8.9%	6.2%
55 to 64	21.2%	16.9%
65 to 74	20.0%	13.6%
75 and over	8.1%	11.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Capitan	Ruidoso
White (non-Hispanic)	63.5%	64.3%
Black or African American	0.0%	1.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.3%	1.5%
Asian	0.0%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	1.7%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	33.5%	28.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Capitan	Ruidoso
No high school diploma	3.8%	9.1%
High school graduate	37.2%	20.2%
Some college or associate's	38.8%	39.8%
Bachelor's degree	11.5%	21.6%
Graduate or professional degree	8.7%	9.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Capitan	Ruidoso
Drove alone	80.5%	74.6%
Carpooled	11.8%	7.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	0.9%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.5%
Worked from home	6.9%	14.0%
Other means	0.0%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Capitan	Ruidoso
1-unit, detached	31.7%	70.0%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	3.8%
2 to 4 units	4.1%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	3.2%
20 or more units	0.0%	2.3%
Mobile home & other	59.6%	16.6%

Poverty & households

	Capitan	Ruidoso
Poverty rate	11.4%	16.5%
Average household size	2.15	2.08
Mean commute (minutes)	27	14
Median year structure built	1988	1981