Placitas vs Rio Rancho Estates

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

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

Placitas has the higher population (4,375 vs 1,626 in Rio Rancho Estates). Placitas has the higher median household income ($110,268 vs $90,172 in Rio Rancho Estates). Placitas has the higher median home value ($520,200 vs $156,900 in Rio Rancho Estates).

Population, income & housing

	Placitas	Rio Rancho Estates
Population	4,375	1,626
Median age	63.2 yrs	44.6 yrs
Median household income	$110,268	$90,172
Median home value	$520,200	$156,900
Median gross rent	$1,869	—
Housing units	2,349	585
Homeownership rate	91.6%	87.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	60.2%	22.5%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Placitas	Rio Rancho Estates
Population	4,686 → 4,375 (-6.6%)	1,586 → 1,626 (+2.5%)
Median household income	$80,224 → $110,268 (+37.5%)	$55,714 → $90,172 (+61.8%)
Median home value	$366,700 → $520,200 (+41.9%)	$93,600 → $156,900 (+67.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,168 → $1,869 (+60.0%)	$934 → $1,104 (+18.2%)

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 Estates

Population

1,5861,626

Median household income

$55,714$90,172

Median home value

$93,600$156,900

Median gross rent

$934$1,104

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Placitas	Rio Rancho Estates
Under 5	2.2%	4.1%
5 to 17	3.3%	12.9%
18 to 24	1.1%	7.6%
25 to 34	1.5%	6.5%
35 to 44	13.0%	21.7%
45 to 54	13.5%	13.6%
55 to 64	19.8%	26.8%
65 to 74	29.9%	4.9%
75 and over	15.7%	2.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Placitas	Rio Rancho Estates
White (non-Hispanic)	74.2%	26.3%
Black or African American	0.0%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	6.7%	3.1%
Asian	1.5%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.4%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	15.2%	68.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Placitas	Rio Rancho Estates
No high school diploma	1.5%	21.3%
High school graduate	14.3%	27.8%
Some college or associate's	24.0%	28.4%
Bachelor's degree	27.4%	17.4%
Graduate or professional degree	32.8%	5.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Placitas	Rio Rancho Estates
Drove alone	62.3%	71.7%
Carpooled	2.9%	17.1%
Public transit	1.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.8%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	32.6%	11.3%
Other means	0.4%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Placitas	Rio Rancho Estates
1-unit, detached	96.9%	37.6%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	1.2%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.6%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.5%	61.2%

Poverty & households

	Placitas	Rio Rancho Estates
Poverty rate	2.0%	20.4%
Average household size	2.01	3.01
Mean commute (minutes)	30	43
Median year structure built	1999	1998