Sierra County vs Socorro County

A side-by-side comparison of Sierra County and Socorro County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Socorro County has the higher population (16,308 vs 11,511 in Sierra County). Socorro County has the higher median household income ($47,556 vs $37,840 in Sierra County). Sierra County has the higher median home value ($144,800 vs $143,200 in Socorro County).

Population, income & housing

	Sierra County	Socorro County
Population	11,511	16,308
Median age	57.3 yrs	39.7 yrs
Median household income	$37,840	$47,556
Median home value	$144,800	$143,200
Median gross rent	$695	$653
Housing units	8,139	7,642
Homeownership rate	70.2%	73.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.3%	21.0%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Sierra County	Socorro County
Population	11,031 → 11,511 (+4.4%)	16,858 → 16,308 (-3.3%)
Median household income	$29,755 → $37,840 (+27.2%)	$42,083 → $47,556 (+13.0%)
Median home value	$117,400 → $144,800 (+23.3%)	$124,100 → $143,200 (+15.4%)
Median gross rent	$537 → $695 (+29.4%)	$715 → $653 (-8.7%)

Sierra County

Population

11,03111,511

Median household income

$29,755$37,840

Median home value

$117,400$144,800

Median gross rent

$537$695

Socorro County

Population

16,85816,308

Median household income

$42,083$47,556

Median home value

$124,100$143,200

Median gross rent

$715$653

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Sierra County	Socorro County
Under 5	3.6%	4.8%
5 to 17	11.9%	16.8%
18 to 24	4.5%	13.4%
25 to 34	7.8%	9.4%
35 to 44	10.1%	10.9%
45 to 54	10.4%	11.3%
55 to 64	14.7%	13.1%
65 to 74	20.0%	12.0%
75 and over	17.0%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Sierra County	Socorro County
White (non-Hispanic)	63.8%	32.9%
Black or African American	0.2%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	2.4%	12.1%
Asian	0.2%	1.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.9%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	29.4%	50.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Sierra County	Socorro County
No high school diploma	9.8%	15.3%
High school graduate	35.3%	38.9%
Some college or associate's	38.6%	24.8%
Bachelor's degree	9.7%	10.9%
Graduate or professional degree	6.6%	10.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Sierra County	Socorro County
Drove alone	73.8%	65.6%
Carpooled	8.8%	6.4%
Public transit	0.6%	0.0%
Walked	3.9%	9.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.6%
Worked from home	7.2%	16.0%
Other means	5.8%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Sierra County	Socorro County
1-unit, detached	46.5%	51.2%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	5.9%	4.4%
5 to 19 units	2.5%	3.8%
20 or more units	1.9%	2.2%
Mobile home & other	42.5%	38.0%

Poverty & households

	Sierra County	Socorro County
Poverty rate	24.9%	29.0%
Average household size	2.08	2.99
Mean commute (minutes)	14	15
Median year structure built	1983	1980