Chaves County vs Otero County

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

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

Otero County has the higher population (68,235 vs 64,446 in Chaves County). Otero County has the higher median household income ($52,717 vs $52,029 in Chaves County). Otero County has the higher median home value ($149,500 vs $141,900 in Chaves County).

Population, income & housing

	Chaves County	Otero County
Population	64,446	68,235
Median age	36.9 yrs	36.3 yrs
Median household income	$52,029	$52,717
Median home value	$141,900	$149,500
Median gross rent	$838	$926
Housing units	26,794	32,400
Homeownership rate	68.7%	65.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.2%	21.6%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	9.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chaves County	Otero County
Population	65,144 → 64,446 (-1.1%)	66,137 → 68,235 (+3.2%)
Median household income	$43,359 → $52,029 (+20.0%)	$41,988 → $52,717 (+25.6%)
Median home value	$108,700 → $141,900 (+30.5%)	$112,400 → $149,500 (+33.0%)
Median gross rent	$771 → $838 (+8.7%)	$792 → $926 (+16.9%)

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

Otero County

Population

66,13768,235

Median household income

$41,988$52,717

Median home value

$112,400$149,500

Median gross rent

$792$926

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chaves County	Otero County
Under 5	6.1%	6.1%
5 to 17	19.0%	16.0%
18 to 24	9.8%	11.4%
25 to 34	13.2%	15.2%
35 to 44	12.7%	12.1%
45 to 54	10.9%	10.1%
55 to 64	12.1%	11.9%
65 to 74	9.6%	10.2%
75 and over	6.7%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chaves County	Otero County
White (non-Hispanic)	37.1%	46.6%
Black or African American	1.4%	3.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	5.8%
Asian	1.1%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.6%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	57.9%	39.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chaves County	Otero County
No high school diploma	19.1%	12.7%
High school graduate	27.6%	29.0%
Some college or associate's	35.2%	36.7%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	14.2%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	7.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chaves County	Otero County
Drove alone	82.4%	77.8%
Carpooled	9.0%	11.9%
Public transit	0.1%	0.3%
Walked	2.0%	3.1%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.3%
Worked from home	5.0%	6.0%
Other means	1.2%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chaves County	Otero County
1-unit, detached	71.4%	58.6%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	3.9%
2 to 4 units	5.5%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	2.2%
20 or more units	4.1%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	14.2%	29.1%

Poverty & households

	Chaves County	Otero County
Poverty rate	22.3%	20.0%
Average household size	2.62	2.66
Mean commute (minutes)	19	23
Median year structure built	1972	1984