Rock Springs vs Thoreau

A side-by-side comparison of Rock Springs and Thoreau: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Thoreau has the higher population (1,795 vs 1,166 in Rock Springs). Rock Springs has the higher median household income ($93,333 vs $43,953 in Thoreau). Thoreau has the higher median home value ($52,900 vs $17,100 in Rock Springs).

Population, income & housing

	Rock Springs	Thoreau
Population	1,166	1,795
Median age	43.2 yrs	37.6 yrs
Median household income	$93,333	$43,953
Median home value	$17,100	$52,900
Median gross rent	—	$640
Housing units	312	739
Homeownership rate	98.3%	90.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	7.3%	5.7%
Unemployment rate	2.2%	13.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Rock Springs	Thoreau
Population	506 → 1,166 (+130.4%)	1,641 → 1,795 (+9.4%)
Median household income	$66,250 → $93,333 (+40.9%)	$19,792 → $43,953 (+122.1%)
Median home value	$73,200 → $17,100 (-76.6%)	$57,700 → $52,900 (-8.3%)
Median gross rent	—	$674 → $640 (-5.0%)

Rock Springs

Population

5061,166

Median household income

$66,250$93,333

Median home value

$73,200$17,100

Thoreau

Population

1,6411,795

Median household income

$19,792$43,953

Median home value

$57,700$52,900

Median gross rent

$674$640

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Rock Springs	Thoreau
Under 5	3.3%	6.0%
5 to 17	13.7%	14.3%
18 to 24	5.1%	13.6%
25 to 34	16.4%	10.4%
35 to 44	23.2%	15.9%
45 to 54	14.7%	9.2%
55 to 64	3.7%	13.6%
65 to 74	10.4%	9.4%
75 and over	9.4%	7.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Rock Springs	Thoreau
White (non-Hispanic)	0.0%	8.7%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	100.0%	79.0%
Asian	0.0%	2.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.3%
Some other race	0.0%	0.6%
Two or more races	0.0%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	6.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Rock Springs	Thoreau
No high school diploma	14.3%	18.3%
High school graduate	48.1%	42.8%
Some college or associate's	30.3%	33.2%
Bachelor's degree	6.8%	4.1%
Graduate or professional degree	0.4%	1.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Rock Springs	Thoreau
Drove alone	96.8%	83.7%
Carpooled	1.8%	6.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	1.4%	7.7%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Rock Springs	Thoreau
1-unit, detached	72.4%	61.7%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	6.5%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	27.6%	29.2%

Poverty & households

	Rock Springs	Thoreau
Poverty rate	22.8%	27.5%
Average household size	4.90	2.90
Mean commute (minutes)	22	33
Median year structure built	1994	1993