Ruidoso vs Ruidoso Downs

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

Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs 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 2,629 in Ruidoso Downs). Ruidoso has the higher median household income ($50,259 vs $31,413 in Ruidoso Downs). Ruidoso has the higher median home value ($229,100 vs $55,400 in Ruidoso Downs).

Population, income & housing

	Ruidoso	Ruidoso Downs
Population	7,701	2,629
Median age	44.4 yrs	35.3 yrs
Median household income	$50,259	$31,413
Median home value	$229,100	$55,400
Median gross rent	$924	$826
Housing units	8,262	1,347
Homeownership rate	69.6%	69.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.9%	10.5%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	5.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ruidoso	Ruidoso Downs
Population	7,791 → 7,701 (-1.2%)	2,573 → 2,629 (+2.2%)
Median household income	$50,114 → $50,259 (+0.3%)	$28,646 → $31,413 (+9.7%)
Median home value	$180,700 → $229,100 (+26.8%)	$130,900 → $55,400 (-57.7%)
Median gross rent	$770 → $924 (+20.0%)	$522 → $826 (+58.2%)

Ruidoso

Population

7,7917,701

Median household income

$50,114$50,259

Median home value

$180,700$229,100

Median gross rent

$770$924

Ruidoso Downs

Population

2,5732,629

Median household income

$28,646$31,413

Median home value

$130,900$55,400

Median gross rent

$522$826

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ruidoso	Ruidoso Downs
Under 5	6.6%	6.1%
5 to 17	13.2%	15.6%
18 to 24	5.4%	9.6%
25 to 34	12.3%	18.0%
35 to 44	14.0%	9.5%
45 to 54	6.2%	7.0%
55 to 64	16.9%	8.4%
65 to 74	13.6%	16.3%
75 and over	11.9%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ruidoso	Ruidoso Downs
White (non-Hispanic)	64.3%	35.5%
Black or African American	1.3%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.5%	2.7%
Asian	1.1%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.4%	1.0%
Hispanic or Latino	28.3%	60.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ruidoso	Ruidoso Downs
No high school diploma	9.1%	15.3%
High school graduate	20.2%	49.4%
Some college or associate's	39.8%	24.7%
Bachelor's degree	21.6%	3.0%
Graduate or professional degree	9.3%	7.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ruidoso	Ruidoso Downs
Drove alone	74.6%	81.9%
Carpooled	7.4%	8.3%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	1.7%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.0%
Worked from home	14.0%	0.0%
Other means	1.5%	9.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ruidoso	Ruidoso Downs
1-unit, detached	70.0%	12.1%
1-unit, attached	3.8%	6.7%
2 to 4 units	4.0%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	3.2%	5.7%
20 or more units	2.3%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	16.6%	71.3%

Poverty & households

	Ruidoso	Ruidoso Downs
Poverty rate	16.5%	29.1%
Average household size	2.08	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	14	21
Median year structure built	1981	1990