Chaves County vs Lea County

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

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

Lea County has the higher population (73,154 vs 64,446 in Chaves County). Lea County has the higher median household income ($68,750 vs $52,029 in Chaves County). Lea County has the higher median home value ($176,000 vs $141,900 in Chaves County).

Population, income & housing

	Chaves County	Lea County
Population	64,446	73,154
Median age	36.9 yrs	32.5 yrs
Median household income	$52,029	$68,750
Median home value	$141,900	$176,000
Median gross rent	$838	$1,119
Housing units	26,794	28,125
Homeownership rate	68.7%	69.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.2%	15.3%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	7.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chaves County	Lea County
Population	65,144 → 64,446 (-1.1%)	70,277 → 73,154 (+4.1%)
Median household income	$43,359 → $52,029 (+20.0%)	$60,546 → $68,750 (+13.6%)
Median home value	$108,700 → $141,900 (+30.5%)	$133,100 → $176,000 (+32.2%)
Median gross rent	$771 → $838 (+8.7%)	$895 → $1,119 (+25.0%)

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

Lea County

Population

70,27773,154

Median household income

$60,546$68,750

Median home value

$133,100$176,000

Median gross rent

$895$1,119

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chaves County	Lea County
Under 5	6.1%	8.0%
5 to 17	19.0%	21.8%
18 to 24	9.8%	10.4%
25 to 34	13.2%	13.9%
35 to 44	12.7%	13.4%
45 to 54	10.9%	10.8%
55 to 64	12.1%	10.4%
65 to 74	9.6%	7.0%
75 and over	6.7%	4.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chaves County	Lea County
White (non-Hispanic)	37.1%	32.1%
Black or African American	1.4%	3.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.5%
Asian	1.1%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	1.6%	1.5%
Hispanic or Latino	57.9%	61.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chaves County	Lea County
No high school diploma	19.1%	24.4%
High school graduate	27.6%	32.6%
Some college or associate's	35.2%	27.7%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	8.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	6.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chaves County	Lea County
Drove alone	82.4%	77.4%
Carpooled	9.0%	17.0%
Public transit	0.1%	0.2%
Walked	2.0%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.0%	3.7%
Other means	1.2%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chaves County	Lea County
1-unit, detached	71.4%	69.3%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	5.5%	4.3%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	3.7%
20 or more units	4.1%	3.3%
Mobile home & other	14.2%	17.5%

Poverty & households

	Chaves County	Lea County
Poverty rate	22.3%	18.7%
Average household size	2.62	2.89
Mean commute (minutes)	19	25
Median year structure built	1972	1977