Lea County vs San Juan County

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

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

San Juan County has the higher population (121,178 vs 73,154 in Lea County). Lea County has the higher median household income ($68,750 vs $53,020 in San Juan County). San Juan County has the higher median home value ($185,100 vs $176,000 in Lea County).

Population, income & housing

	Lea County	San Juan County
Population	73,154	121,178
Median age	32.5 yrs	38.0 yrs
Median household income	$68,750	$53,020
Median home value	$176,000	$185,100
Median gross rent	$1,119	$917
Housing units	28,125	48,085
Homeownership rate	69.5%	70.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.3%	16.6%
Unemployment rate	7.0%	7.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lea County	San Juan County
Population	70,277 → 73,154 (+4.1%)	126,515 → 121,178 (-4.2%)
Median household income	$60,546 → $68,750 (+13.6%)	$50,518 → $53,020 (+5.0%)
Median home value	$133,100 → $176,000 (+32.2%)	$151,200 → $185,100 (+22.4%)
Median gross rent	$895 → $1,119 (+25.0%)	$817 → $917 (+12.2%)

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

San Juan County

Population

126,515121,178

Median household income

$50,518$53,020

Median home value

$151,200$185,100

Median gross rent

$817$917

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lea County	San Juan County
Under 5	8.0%	5.8%
5 to 17	21.8%	19.6%
18 to 24	10.4%	8.5%
25 to 34	13.9%	13.0%
35 to 44	13.4%	13.1%
45 to 54	10.8%	10.9%
55 to 64	10.4%	12.8%
65 to 74	7.0%	10.0%
75 and over	4.2%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lea County	San Juan County
White (non-Hispanic)	32.1%	36.7%
Black or African American	3.4%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	38.5%
Asian	0.6%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	1.5%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	61.6%	19.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lea County	San Juan County
No high school diploma	24.4%	13.6%
High school graduate	32.6%	30.4%
Some college or associate's	27.7%	39.4%
Bachelor's degree	8.4%	9.9%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	6.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lea County	San Juan County
Drove alone	77.4%	85.2%
Carpooled	17.0%	6.2%
Public transit	0.2%	0.2%
Walked	0.9%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	3.7%	5.6%
Other means	0.8%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lea County	San Juan County
1-unit, detached	69.3%	54.6%
1-unit, attached	1.9%	1.9%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	7.4%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	2.5%
20 or more units	3.3%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	17.5%	32.4%

Poverty & households

	Lea County	San Juan County
Poverty rate	18.7%	23.2%
Average household size	2.89	2.91
Mean commute (minutes)	25	24
Median year structure built	1977	1986