Chaves County vs Curry County

A side-by-side comparison of Chaves County and Curry County: population, income, housing, and more.

Chaves County and Curry County are counties in New Mexico. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Chaves County has the higher population (64,446 vs 47,932 in Curry County). Curry County has the higher median household income ($56,259 vs $52,029 in Chaves County). Curry County has the higher median home value ($160,800 vs $141,900 in Chaves County).

Population, income & housing

	Chaves County	Curry County
Population	64,446	47,932
Median age	36.9 yrs	31.9 yrs
Median household income	$52,029	$56,259
Median home value	$141,900	$160,800
Median gross rent	$838	$987
Housing units	26,794	21,266
Homeownership rate	68.7%	61.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.2%	21.3%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	7.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chaves County	Curry County
Population	65,144 → 64,446 (-1.1%)	49,732 → 47,932 (-3.6%)
Median household income	$43,359 → $52,029 (+20.0%)	$45,092 → $56,259 (+24.8%)
Median home value	$108,700 → $141,900 (+30.5%)	$125,000 → $160,800 (+28.6%)
Median gross rent	$771 → $838 (+8.7%)	$843 → $987 (+17.1%)

Chaves County

Population

65,14464,446

Median household income

$43,359$52,029

Median home value

$108,700$141,900

Median gross rent

$771$838

Curry County

Population

49,73247,932

Median household income

$45,092$56,259

Median home value

$125,000$160,800

Median gross rent

$843$987

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chaves County	Curry County
Under 5	6.1%	7.8%
5 to 17	19.0%	18.9%
18 to 24	9.8%	11.4%
25 to 34	13.2%	16.9%
35 to 44	12.7%	12.5%
45 to 54	10.9%	9.2%
55 to 64	12.1%	10.5%
65 to 74	9.6%	7.4%
75 and over	6.7%	5.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chaves County	Curry County
White (non-Hispanic)	37.1%	43.8%
Black or African American	1.4%	4.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.4%
Asian	1.1%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.6%	3.9%
Hispanic or Latino	57.9%	45.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chaves County	Curry County
No high school diploma	19.1%	17.8%
High school graduate	27.6%	26.6%
Some college or associate's	35.2%	34.3%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	12.6%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	8.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chaves County	Curry County
Drove alone	82.4%	81.5%
Carpooled	9.0%	11.9%
Public transit	0.1%	0.2%
Walked	2.0%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.5%
Worked from home	5.0%	3.1%
Other means	1.2%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chaves County	Curry County
1-unit, detached	71.4%	73.5%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	4.2%
2 to 4 units	5.5%	8.0%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	3.2%
20 or more units	4.1%	2.3%
Mobile home & other	14.2%	8.9%

Poverty & households

	Chaves County	Curry County
Poverty rate	22.3%	20.9%
Average household size	2.62	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	19	16
Median year structure built	1972	1976