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Place dossier plate
SheetNM-DULCE-NM · Dulce, NM 2,782 pop · income 9th pct · 11 tracts
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.
Income neighbourhood around Dulce
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Dulce on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
University Pa… · lowest
25,433
University Pa… · lowest
25,433 median HH income
17.3% of the leader · rank #1
Ashland · near
41,875
Ashland · near
41,875 median HH income
28.5% of the leader · rank #2
South Taft · near
41,875
South Taft · near
41,875 median HH income
28.5% of the leader · rank #3
Malone · near
41,875
Malone · near
41,875 median HH income
28.5% of the leader · rank #4
Dulce · this city
41,886
Dulce · this city
41,886 median HH income
28.5% of the leader · rank #5
Woodville · near
41,890
Woodville · near
41,890 median HH income
28.5% of the leader · rank #6
Spring Lake · highest
146,976
Spring Lake · highest
146,976 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Dulce 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: 2,782.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Dulce places in the 9th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
9th
percentile, household income
1st
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: Dulce, NM
2,782 people live in Dulce, New Mexico - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Dulce brings in $41,886 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 11.9%. Dulce's housing stock carries a median value of $58,100, and the median resident age is 43.7 years. About 9.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 52.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA puts Dulce's yearly average temperature at 47.4°F with 17.4 inches of precipitation per year and 55.7 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in New Mexico run below the national norm: the state registers 92.2 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Below Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,129 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in New Mexico run around $167, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Dulce report an average commute of 8.1 minutes, with 82.9% driving alone and 2.6% working from home. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 58.9 out of 100 (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Dulce'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 climate and hazard context to within-city variation to comparison shortlist to schools and households to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Dulce, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Dulce?
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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 47.4°F, with 17.4 inches of precipitation and 55.7 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.
PlainCities matches 11 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
Which cities make useful reference points for Dulce?
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.
Within New Mexico, the closest population matches are Chimayo (2,726 residents, $52,305 income); Agua Fria (2,842 residents, $47,438 income); University Park (2,699 residents, $25,433 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Coronita, CA (2,782 residents); Bonifay, FL (2,782 residents); Verona, MS (2,782 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 9.9% 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Dulce?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 82.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 8.1 minutes.
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.
Drive alone
82.9%
Work from home
2.6%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,225 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Dulce?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
1.4×
Home value
$58,100
Household income
$41,886
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 11.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
92.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, New Mexico average
F
City profile score · Dulce, NM
31/100
4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
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.
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.
Poverty rate F
11.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$41,886
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
9.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Dulce profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 77/100 (B+) · 92.2 index
Poverty rate: 32/100 (F) · 11.9%
Household income: 9/100 (F) · $41,886
Bachelor's+ share: 6/100 (F) · 9.9%
How does Dulce compare to other US cities?
Dulce measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income9% higher than other cities
Home value1% 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 Dulce 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 Dulce near the bottom of New Mexico's cities
Among the 409 New Mexico cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Dulce ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Dulce only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#234 of 324
28th percentile in New Mexico
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 409
0th percentile in New Mexico
Median Home Value
#293 of 324
10th percentile in New Mexico
Poverty Rate
#207 of 408
49th percentile in New Mexico
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#281 of 409
31st 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.
Gauge source note
9th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Dulce's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$58,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 99% 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
Dulce's home-value-to-income ratio: 1.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#251 of 15,516
More affordable than 98% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#247 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.4×, Dulce sits in the affordable band:
national rank #251 of 15,516 and #247 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$41,886Dulce, NM median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Dulce, NM median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Dulce, NM.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)9.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,782
Median Income
$41,886
Median Home Value
$58,100
Median Age
43.7
Poverty Rate
11.9%
Labor force participation
52.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
9.9%
Climate
Avg Temperature
47.4°F
Annual Precipitation
17.4"
Annual Snowfall
55.7"
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
8.1 minutes
Drive Alone
82.9%
Carpool
13.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
2.6%
Based on 1,225 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 Dulce. 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 Dulce 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 Dulce sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Dulce 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.