Lea County vs Sandoval County

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

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

Sandoval County has the higher population (151,538 vs 73,154 in Lea County). Sandoval County has the higher median household income ($84,053 vs $68,750 in Lea County). Sandoval County has the higher median home value ($282,300 vs $176,000 in Lea County).

Population, income & housing

	Lea County	Sandoval County
Population	73,154	151,538
Median age	32.5 yrs	41.1 yrs
Median household income	$68,750	$84,053
Median home value	$176,000	$282,300
Median gross rent	$1,119	$1,408
Housing units	28,125	59,759
Homeownership rate	69.5%	83.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.3%	33.4%
Unemployment rate	7.0%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lea County	Sandoval County
Population	70,277 → 73,154 (+4.1%)	142,704 → 151,538 (+6.2%)
Median household income	$60,546 → $68,750 (+13.6%)	$63,802 → $84,053 (+31.7%)
Median home value	$133,100 → $176,000 (+32.2%)	$200,900 → $282,300 (+40.5%)
Median gross rent	$895 → $1,119 (+25.0%)	$1,117 → $1,408 (+26.1%)

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

Sandoval County

Population

142,704151,538

Median household income

$63,802$84,053

Median home value

$200,900$282,300

Median gross rent

$1,117$1,408

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lea County	Sandoval County
Under 5	8.0%	4.9%
5 to 17	21.8%	17.3%
18 to 24	10.4%	7.6%
25 to 34	13.9%	12.0%
35 to 44	13.4%	13.3%
45 to 54	10.8%	12.1%
55 to 64	10.4%	13.2%
65 to 74	7.0%	12.3%
75 and over	4.2%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lea County	Sandoval County
White (non-Hispanic)	32.1%	41.9%
Black or African American	3.4%	2.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	11.1%
Asian	0.6%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	1.5%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	61.6%	39.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lea County	Sandoval County
No high school diploma	24.4%	7.4%
High school graduate	32.6%	24.8%
Some college or associate's	27.7%	34.4%
Bachelor's degree	8.4%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	13.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lea County	Sandoval County
Drove alone	77.4%	73.4%
Carpooled	17.0%	8.0%
Public transit	0.2%	0.7%
Walked	0.9%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	3.7%	15.0%
Other means	0.8%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lea County	Sandoval County
1-unit, detached	69.3%	83.9%
1-unit, attached	1.9%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	2.5%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	1.5%
20 or more units	3.3%	2.1%
Mobile home & other	17.5%	7.3%

Poverty & households

	Lea County	Sandoval County
Poverty rate	18.7%	10.0%
Average household size	2.89	2.70
Mean commute (minutes)	25	30
Median year structure built	1977	1996