Lea County vs Valencia County

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

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

Valencia County has the higher population (77,382 vs 73,154 in Lea County). Lea County has the higher median household income ($68,750 vs $58,333 in Valencia County). Valencia County has the higher median home value ($206,800 vs $176,000 in Lea County).

Population, income & housing

	Lea County	Valencia County
Population	73,154	77,382
Median age	32.5 yrs	39.0 yrs
Median household income	$68,750	$58,333
Median home value	$176,000	$206,800
Median gross rent	$1,119	$970
Housing units	28,125	30,396
Homeownership rate	69.5%	82.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.3%	20.8%
Unemployment rate	7.0%	6.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lea County	Valencia County
Population	70,277 → 73,154 (+4.1%)	76,027 → 77,382 (+1.8%)
Median household income	$60,546 → $68,750 (+13.6%)	$48,945 → $58,333 (+19.2%)
Median home value	$133,100 → $176,000 (+32.2%)	$142,600 → $206,800 (+45.0%)
Median gross rent	$895 → $1,119 (+25.0%)	$876 → $970 (+10.7%)

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

Valencia County

Population

76,02777,382

Median household income

$48,945$58,333

Median home value

$142,600$206,800

Median gross rent

$876$970

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lea County	Valencia County
Under 5	8.0%	5.6%
5 to 17	21.8%	17.3%
18 to 24	10.4%	8.5%
25 to 34	13.9%	12.8%
35 to 44	13.4%	12.4%
45 to 54	10.8%	11.6%
55 to 64	10.4%	13.4%
65 to 74	7.0%	11.3%
75 and over	4.2%	7.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lea County	Valencia County
White (non-Hispanic)	32.1%	31.1%
Black or African American	3.4%	1.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	3.7%
Asian	0.6%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.2%	0.5%
Two or more races	1.5%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	61.6%	60.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lea County	Valencia County
No high school diploma	24.4%	14.1%
High school graduate	32.6%	31.3%
Some college or associate's	27.7%	33.8%
Bachelor's degree	8.4%	12.1%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	8.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lea County	Valencia County
Drove alone	77.4%	76.4%
Carpooled	17.0%	11.3%
Public transit	0.2%	0.5%
Walked	0.9%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.7%	9.3%
Other means	0.8%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lea County	Valencia County
1-unit, detached	69.3%	62.5%
1-unit, attached	1.9%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	1.0%
20 or more units	3.3%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	17.5%	31.2%

Poverty & households

	Lea County	Valencia County
Poverty rate	18.7%	18.4%
Average household size	2.89	2.83
Mean commute (minutes)	25	29
Median year structure built	1977	1989