Belen vs Rio Communities

A side-by-side comparison of Belen and Rio Communities: population, income, housing, and more.

Belen and Rio Communities 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 4,924 in Rio Communities). Rio Communities has the higher median household income ($46,223 vs $40,354 in Belen). Rio Communities has the higher median home value ($200,000 vs $154,600 in Belen).

Population, income & housing

	Belen	Rio Communities
Population	7,427	4,924
Median age	39.0 yrs	49.0 yrs
Median household income	$40,354	$46,223
Median home value	$154,600	$200,000
Median gross rent	$877	$870
Housing units	3,173	1,999
Homeownership rate	74.5%	81.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.3%	20.1%
Unemployment rate	6.2%	14.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Belen	Rio Communities
Population	7,403 → 7,427 (+0.3%)	4,568 → 4,924 (+7.8%)
Median household income	$36,601 → $40,354 (+10.3%)	$34,281 → $46,223 (+34.8%)
Median home value	$106,500 → $154,600 (+45.2%)	$140,000 → $200,000 (+42.9%)
Median gross rent	$731 → $877 (+20.0%)	$968 → $870 (-10.1%)

Belen

Population

7,4037,427

Median household income

$36,601$40,354

Median home value

$106,500$154,600

Median gross rent

$731$877

Rio Communities

Population

4,5684,924

Median household income

$34,281$46,223

Median home value

$140,000$200,000

Median gross rent

$968$870

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Belen	Rio Communities
Under 5	4.6%	2.1%
5 to 17	15.8%	11.9%
18 to 24	9.9%	16.6%
25 to 34	15.2%	4.0%
35 to 44	9.4%	10.2%
45 to 54	12.9%	8.2%
55 to 64	14.6%	21.3%
65 to 74	10.3%	13.2%
75 and over	7.4%	12.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Belen	Rio Communities
White (non-Hispanic)	28.0%	37.4%
Black or African American	0.4%	3.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	0.2%	1.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	4.0%
Two or more races	1.1%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	70.4%	49.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Belen	Rio Communities
No high school diploma	19.5%	10.8%
High school graduate	26.8%	35.0%
Some college or associate's	39.4%	34.1%
Bachelor's degree	8.7%	15.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	4.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Belen	Rio Communities
Drove alone	71.7%	80.6%
Carpooled	11.6%	9.5%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	2.9%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.5%	9.9%
Other means	4.8%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Belen	Rio Communities
1-unit, detached	66.4%	75.6%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	3.8%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	8.0%
5 to 19 units	4.3%	0.8%
20 or more units	4.0%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	19.9%	10.1%

Poverty & households

	Belen	Rio Communities
Poverty rate	28.5%	15.1%
Average household size	2.70	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	27	24
Median year structure built	1979	1982