Dulce vs La Mesilla

A side-by-side comparison of Dulce and La Mesilla: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Dulce has the higher population (2,782 vs 2,531 in La Mesilla). La Mesilla has the higher median household income ($74,385 vs $41,886 in Dulce). La Mesilla has the higher median home value ($266,900 vs $58,100 in Dulce).

Population, income & housing

	Dulce	La Mesilla
Population	2,782	2,531
Median age	43.7 yrs	43.5 yrs
Median household income	$41,886	$74,385
Median home value	$58,100	$266,900
Median gross rent	$552	$1,015
Housing units	1,194	1,038
Homeownership rate	62.6%	88.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	9.9%	35.8%
Unemployment rate	6.8%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dulce	La Mesilla
Population	2,750 → 2,782 (+1.2%)	2,314 → 2,531 (+9.4%)
Median household income	$42,768 → $41,886 (-2.1%)	$52,188 → $74,385 (+42.5%)
Median home value	$97,100 → $58,100 (-40.2%)	$243,000 → $266,900 (+9.8%)
Median gross rent	$494 → $552 (+11.7%)	$626 → $1,015 (+62.1%)

Dulce

Population

2,7502,782

Median household income

$42,768$41,886

Median home value

$97,100$58,100

Median gross rent

$494$552

La Mesilla

Population

2,3142,531

Median household income

$52,188$74,385

Median home value

$243,000$266,900

Median gross rent

$626$1,015

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dulce	La Mesilla
Under 5	2.8%	4.9%
5 to 17	10.8%	18.8%
18 to 24	14.3%	6.6%
25 to 34	13.2%	7.5%
35 to 44	12.0%	13.4%
45 to 54	12.3%	13.6%
55 to 64	15.2%	14.9%
65 to 74	13.8%	12.6%
75 and over	5.6%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dulce	La Mesilla
White (non-Hispanic)	1.9%	26.9%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	82.8%	4.6%
Asian	0.9%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	2.1%
Some other race	0.4%	1.0%
Two or more races	3.6%	1.6%
Hispanic or Latino	10.0%	63.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dulce	La Mesilla
No high school diploma	9.9%	6.9%
High school graduate	44.3%	24.9%
Some college or associate's	35.8%	32.5%
Bachelor's degree	4.3%	21.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	14.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dulce	La Mesilla
Drove alone	82.9%	73.0%
Carpooled	13.6%	12.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.0%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.6%	13.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dulce	La Mesilla
1-unit, detached	55.0%	63.8%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	19.8%	0.9%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	24.3%	34.8%

Poverty & households

	Dulce	La Mesilla
Poverty rate	15.3%	8.9%
Average household size	2.66	2.75
Mean commute (minutes)	8	32
Median year structure built	1988	1987