Belen vs Meadow Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Belen and Meadow Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Belen has the higher population (7,427 vs 3,959 in Meadow Lake). Belen has the higher median household income ($40,354 vs $38,872 in Meadow Lake). Belen has the higher median home value ($154,600 vs $83,500 in Meadow Lake).

Population, income & housing

	Belen	Meadow Lake
Population	7,427	3,959
Median age	39.0 yrs	36.9 yrs
Median household income	$40,354	$38,872
Median home value	$154,600	$83,500
Median gross rent	$877	$783
Housing units	3,173	1,610
Homeownership rate	74.5%	78.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.3%	15.8%
Unemployment rate	6.2%	6.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Belen	Meadow Lake
Population	7,403 → 7,427 (+0.3%)	3,832 → 3,959 (+3.3%)
Median household income	$36,601 → $40,354 (+10.3%)	$30,532 → $38,872 (+27.3%)
Median home value	$106,500 → $154,600 (+45.2%)	$73,900 → $83,500 (+13.0%)
Median gross rent	$731 → $877 (+20.0%)	$703 → $783 (+11.4%)

Belen

Population

7,4037,427

Median household income

$36,601$40,354

Median home value

$106,500$154,600

Median gross rent

$731$877

Meadow Lake

Population

3,8323,959

Median household income

$30,532$38,872

Median home value

$73,900$83,500

Median gross rent

$703$783

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Belen	Meadow Lake
Under 5	4.6%	1.8%
5 to 17	15.8%	30.3%
18 to 24	9.9%	6.7%
25 to 34	15.2%	8.6%
35 to 44	9.4%	13.6%
45 to 54	12.9%	16.9%
55 to 64	14.6%	10.4%
65 to 74	10.3%	7.3%
75 and over	7.4%	4.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Belen	Meadow Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	28.0%	13.6%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	1.6%
Asian	0.2%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.1%	0.7%
Hispanic or Latino	70.4%	83.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Belen	Meadow Lake
No high school diploma	19.5%	30.1%
High school graduate	26.8%	34.2%
Some college or associate's	39.4%	19.9%
Bachelor's degree	8.7%	12.2%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	3.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Belen	Meadow Lake
Drove alone	71.7%	71.1%
Carpooled	11.6%	24.5%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	2.9%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.5%	4.5%
Other means	4.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Belen	Meadow Lake
1-unit, detached	66.4%	14.8%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	4.3%	0.0%
20 or more units	4.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	19.9%	84.3%

Poverty & households

	Belen	Meadow Lake
Poverty rate	28.5%	30.2%
Average household size	2.70	3.17
Mean commute (minutes)	27	39
Median year structure built	1979	1992