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Place dossier plate
SheetNM-LOS-LUNAS-NM · Los Lunas, NM 17,932 pop · income 41st pct · 25 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 Los Lunas
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Los Lunas on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Portsmouth · lowest
35,319
Portsmouth · lowest
35,319 median HH income
25.9% of the leader · rank #1
Lawrenceburg · near
63,690
Lawrenceburg · near
63,690 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #2
Rio Rico · near
63,692
Rio Rico · near
63,692 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #3
Los Lunas · this city
63,696
Los Lunas · this city
63,696 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #4
Damariscotta · near
63,696
Damariscotta · near
63,696 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #5
Clifton · near
63,696
Clifton · near
63,696 median HH income
46.7% of the leader · rank #6
Los Alamos · highest
136,502
Los Alamos · highest
136,502 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Los Lunas on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. 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: 17,932.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Los Lunas - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Los Lunas lands in the 41st percentile for household income and the 11th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
41st
percentile, household income
52nd
percentile, home value
39th
percentile, median rent
11th
percentile, safety
📝 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: Los Lunas, NM
17,932 people live in Los Lunas, New Mexico - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Los Lunas report a median income of $63,696 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.6%. Home values in Los Lunas run a median of $232,700, and the median resident age is 37.0 years. About 27.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 46.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 270 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 260% from five years earlier. Los Lunas's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 3496.2 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 56.1°F with 9.2 inches of precipitation per year and 5.1 inches of snowfall.
Living costs in New Mexico run below the national norm: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, New Mexico scores 92.2 (Below Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $1,129 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $167 across New Mexico, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Los Lunas'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 within-city variation to population change to climate and hazard context to work and mobility to housing and income to reported crime to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Los Lunas, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Within-city variation
What can 25 Census tracts reveal inside Los Lunas?
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.
PlainCities matches 25 Census tracts to this city.
Is Los Lunas growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +3,118 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +17.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 270 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 56.1°F, with 9.2 inches of precipitation and 5.1 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Los Lunas?
Within New Mexico, the closest population matches are Sunland Park (17,085 residents, $52,147 income); Chaparral (16,642 residents, $46,102 income); Deming (14,735 residents, $35,920 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Mount Holly, NC (17,928 residents); Anoka, MN (17,941 residents); Ashtabula, OH (17,919 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.
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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
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 Los Lunas?
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 80.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
1.6%
Work from home
6.8%
Drive alone
80.3%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 6,316 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Los Lunas?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Household income
$63,696
Home value
$232,700
Value / income
3.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Los Lunas?
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3496.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 53% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
2912.7
Violent rate
583.5
Total reported rate
3496.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the education layer cover for Los Lunas?
The NCES join finds 18 public schools within the city match. 27.6% 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 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.
Matched public schools
18
Bachelor's degree+
27.6%
Poverty estimate
14.6%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Below median income · poverty 14.6% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
92.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, New Mexico average
D
City profile score · Los Lunas, NM
40/100
5 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.
Bachelor's+ share C-
27.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$63,696
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
584 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Los Lunas profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 77/100 (B+) · 92.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 54/100 (C-) · 27.6%
Household income: 40/100 (D) · $63,696
Poverty rate: 23/100 (F) · 14.6%
Violent crime: 11/100 (F) · 584 /100k
Where Los Lunas sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Los Lunas's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Los Lunas highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Los Lunas, NM (this city): home $232,700, crime 3,496/100k
Mount Holly, NC : home $286,400, crime 1,755/100k
Anoka, MN : home $292,900, crime 1,432/100k
Ashtabula, OH : home $99,200, crime 1,106/100k
Portsmouth, OH : home $95,000, crime 4,572/100k
El Reno, OK : home $157,000, crime 1,563/100k
Conyers, GA : home $218,000, crime 2,851/100k
Sunland Park, NM : home $194,900, crime 906/100k
Gallup, NM : home $134,600, crime 5,400/100k
Los Alamos, NM : home $458,200, crime 454/100k
Las Vegas, NM : home $143,900, crime 2,122/100k
How does Los Lunas compare to other US cities?
Where Los Lunas sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income41% higher than other cities
Home value52% pricier than other cities
Median rent39% pricier than other cities
Safety11% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at New Mexico, Los Lunas ranks #34 of 42 New Mexico cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Los Lunas 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 Los Lunas near the bottom of New Mexico's cities
Among the 409 New Mexico cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Los Lunas ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Los Lunas only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#131 of 324
60th percentile in New Mexico
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 409
0th percentile in New Mexico
Median Home Value
#109 of 324
66th percentile in New Mexico
Poverty Rate
#183 of 408
55th percentile in New Mexico
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#121 of 409
70th 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
41st percentile nationally for median household income · 11th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Los Lunas's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Los Lunas's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Los Lunas's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$232,70048th percentilemore affordable than 48% 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
Los Lunas's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,557 of 15,516
More affordable than 38% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,639 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 3.7×, Los Lunas sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,557 of 15,516 and #1,639 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$63,696Los Lunas, NM median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Los Lunas, 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 Los Lunas, NM.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)27.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)46.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
17,932
Median Income
$63,696
Median Home Value
$232,700
Median Age
37.0
Poverty Rate
14.6%
Labor force participation
46.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
27.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3496.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
583.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2912.7
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
56.1°F
Annual Precipitation
9.2"
Annual Snowfall
5.1"
Schools
Total Schools
18
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Los Lunas's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
17,454 residents
2021
17,965 residents
2022
18,674 residents
2023
19,215 residents
2024
19,944 residents
2025
20,572 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
270
housing units authorized
Single-Family
270
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
15.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
75
75
0
$12.2M
2020
96
96
0
$21.5M
2021
308
308
0
$84.5M
2022
249
249
0
$69.6M
2023
259
259
0
$76.9M
2024
270
270
0
$83.3M
Permit volume increased 260% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
80.3%
Carpool
10.1%
Public Transit
1.6%
Walk
0.6%
Work from Home
6.8%
Other
0.6%
Based on 6,316 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 Los Lunas. 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 Los Lunas 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 Los Lunas sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Los Lunas 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, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, 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.