Placitas vs Rio Rancho

A side-by-side comparison of Placitas and Rio Rancho: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Rio Rancho has the higher population (106,533 vs 4,375 in Placitas). Placitas has the higher median household income ($110,268 vs $85,755 in Rio Rancho). Placitas has the higher median home value ($520,200 vs $273,300 in Rio Rancho).

Population, income & housing

	Placitas	Rio Rancho
Population	4,375	106,533
Median age	63.2 yrs	39.0 yrs
Median household income	$110,268	$85,755
Median home value	$520,200	$273,300
Median gross rent	$1,869	$1,481
Housing units	2,349	40,640
Homeownership rate	91.6%	82.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	60.2%	33.6%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Placitas	Rio Rancho
Population	4,686 → 4,375 (-6.6%)	96,210 → 106,533 (+10.7%)
Median household income	$80,224 → $110,268 (+37.5%)	$66,856 → $85,755 (+28.3%)
Median home value	$366,700 → $520,200 (+41.9%)	$190,800 → $273,300 (+43.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,168 → $1,869 (+60.0%)	$1,167 → $1,481 (+26.9%)

Placitas

Population

4,6864,375

Median household income

$80,224$110,268

Median home value

$366,700$520,200

Median gross rent

$1,168$1,869

Rio Rancho

Population

96,210106,533

Median household income

$66,856$85,755

Median home value

$190,800$273,300

Median gross rent

$1,167$1,481

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Placitas	Rio Rancho
Under 5	2.2%	4.8%
5 to 17	3.3%	18.4%
18 to 24	1.1%	8.0%
25 to 34	1.5%	12.9%
35 to 44	13.0%	13.8%
45 to 54	13.5%	12.0%
55 to 64	19.8%	12.8%
65 to 74	29.9%	10.9%
75 and over	15.7%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Placitas	Rio Rancho
White (non-Hispanic)	74.2%	45.9%
Black or African American	0.0%	2.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	6.7%	3.2%
Asian	1.5%	1.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.4%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	15.2%	42.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Placitas	Rio Rancho
No high school diploma	1.5%	5.6%
High school graduate	14.3%	23.3%
Some college or associate's	24.0%	37.6%
Bachelor's degree	27.4%	20.7%
Graduate or professional degree	32.8%	12.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Placitas	Rio Rancho
Drove alone	62.3%	74.5%
Carpooled	2.9%	8.2%
Public transit	1.0%	0.6%
Walked	0.8%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	32.6%	13.8%
Other means	0.4%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Placitas	Rio Rancho
1-unit, detached	96.9%	87.8%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	2.2%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	3.4%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	2.0%
20 or more units	0.6%	2.7%
Mobile home & other	2.5%	1.9%

Poverty & households

	Placitas	Rio Rancho
Poverty rate	2.0%	7.8%
Average household size	2.01	2.70
Mean commute (minutes)	30	30
Median year structure built	1999	2000