Columbus vs Sunshine

A side-by-side comparison of Columbus and Sunshine: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Columbus has the higher population (1,147 vs 465 in Sunshine). Sunshine has the higher median home value ($158,900 vs $91,400 in Columbus). Since 2019, Sunshine's population has grown faster (+41.8% vs +2.6%).

Population, income & housing

	Columbus	Sunshine
Population	1,147	465
Median age	38.4 yrs	67.4 yrs
Median household income	$24,554	—
Median home value	$91,400	$158,900
Median gross rent	$394	—
Housing units	755	195
Homeownership rate	57.6%	100.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.7%	20.8%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbus	Sunshine
Population	1,118 → 1,147 (+2.6%)	328 → 465 (+41.8%)
Median household income	$20,926 → $24,554 (+17.3%)	$37,788 → $100,781 (+166.7%)
Median home value	$66,600 → $91,400 (+37.2%)	$109,800 → $158,900 (+44.7%)
Median gross rent	$389 → $394 (+1.3%)	—

Columbus

Population

1,1181,147

Median household income

$20,926$24,554

Median home value

$66,600$91,400

Median gross rent

$389$394

Sunshine

Population

328465

Median household income

$37,788$100,781

Median home value

$109,800$158,900

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbus	Sunshine
Under 5	3.1%	2.8%
5 to 17	32.3%	6.0%
18 to 24	0.0%	0.0%
25 to 34	9.6%	3.2%
35 to 44	11.9%	3.9%
45 to 54	11.3%	14.8%
55 to 64	12.2%	13.5%
65 to 74	6.1%	33.8%
75 and over	13.5%	21.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbus	Sunshine
White (non-Hispanic)	12.9%	80.4%
Black or African American	0.0%	12.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	87.1%	6.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbus	Sunshine
No high school diploma	47.9%	25.5%
High school graduate	15.1%	16.0%
Some college or associate's	22.3%	37.7%
Bachelor's degree	9.0%	15.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.7%	5.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbus	Sunshine
Drove alone	58.9%	93.3%
Carpooled	27.1%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	14.0%	6.7%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbus	Sunshine
1-unit, detached	41.5%	77.9%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	4.6%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.9%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	53.0%	22.1%

Poverty & households

	Columbus	Sunshine
Poverty rate	37.6%	7.7%
Average household size	2.69	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	23	21
Median year structure built	1981	1971