Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Chama on ACS population and median household income
. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 748.
Chama has 748 residents in New Mexico. Source: Census ACS.
41st
percentile, home value
39th
percentile, median rent
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Chama, NM
748 people live in Chama, New Mexico - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Chama's housing stock carries a median value of $194,300, and the median resident age is 60.5 years. 17.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 51.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 42.2°F with 22.4 inches of precipitation per year and 91.9 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in New Mexico run below the national norm: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts New Mexico at 92.2 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Below Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,129 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in New Mexico run around $167, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 58.9 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Chama's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context to population change to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Chama, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Chama?
Within New Mexico, the closest population matches are Cedar Crest (746 residents, $143,750 income); Los Luceros (757 residents); San Jose CDP (Rio Arriba County) (739 residents, $57,019 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Quitman, AR (748 residents); Mechanicsburg, IL (748 residents); Waterville, KS (748 residents). These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 42.2°F, with 22.4 inches of precipitation and 91.9 inches of annual snowfall. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for New Mexico is 58.9 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -5 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.5% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 75.2%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Chama?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 17.1% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
Matched public schools
2
Bachelor's degree+
17.1%
Poverty estimate
0.0%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living B+
92.2 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Bachelor's+ share F
17.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Chama profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Cost of living: 77/100 (B+) · 92.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 26/100 (F) · 17.1%
How does Chama compare to other US cities?
Chama measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Home value41% pricier than other cities
Median rent39% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Chama against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to New Mexico only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
New Mexico-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Chama near the bottom of New Mexico's cities
Among the 409 New Mexico cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Chama ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Chama only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 409
0th percentile in New Mexico
Median Home Value
#152 of 324
53rd percentile in New Mexico
Poverty Rate
#309 of 408
0th percentile in New Mexico
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#201 of 409
51st percentile in New Mexico
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within New Mexico only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
How Chama's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$194,300Among the most affordablemore affordable than 59% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for Chama in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)17.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)51.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
748
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
$194,300
Median Age
60.5
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
51.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
17.1%
Climate
Avg Temperature
42.2°F
Annual Precipitation
22.4"
Annual Snowfall
91.9"
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Chama's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
918 residents
2021
918 residents
2022
913 residents
2023
913 residents
2024
915 residents
2025
913 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
75.2%
Carpool
3.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
13.2%
Work from Home
7.7%
Based on 363 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
New Mexico statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $167
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across New Mexico at $167 (electricity about $85 , water and sewer about $42 ).
These are New Mexico statewide averages, not a meter reading for Chama. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
New Mexico's BEA cost-of-living index is 92.2 (Below Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Chama is $1,129/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to New Mexico statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 58.9 / 100 (Moderate).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a New Mexico statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Chama sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Chama compares to similar-size New Mexico cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.