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Place dossier plate
SheetNM-TAOS-NM · Taos, NM 6,468 pop · income 15th pct · 10 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 Taos
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Taos on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Truth or Cons… · lowest
29,142
Truth or Cons… · lowest
29,142 median HH income
28.4% of the leader · rank #1
Heflin · near
46,569
Heflin · near
46,569 median HH income
45.4% of the leader · rank #2
Arlington · near
46,571
Arlington · near
46,571 median HH income
45.4% of the leader · rank #3
Richmondville · near
46,571
Richmondville · near
46,571 median HH income
45.4% of the leader · rank #4
Afton · near
46,571
Afton · near
46,571 median HH income
45.4% of the leader · rank #5
Taos · this city
46,579
Taos · this city
46,579 median HH income
45.4% of the leader · rank #6
Milford · highest
102,521
Milford · highest
102,521 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 Taos 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: 6,468.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Taos - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Taos lands in the 15th percentile for household income and the 1st percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
15th
percentile, household income
80th
percentile, home value
39th
percentile, median rent
1st
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: Taos, NM
New Mexico's Taos is a small town, with 6,468 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Taos brings in $46,579 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 12.5%. Taos's housing stock carries a median value of $432,700, and the median resident age is 52.2 years. Educational attainment runs 36.2% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 50.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Taos's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 6915.4 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Taos's yearly average temperature at 48.5°F with 12.7 inches of precipitation per year and 28.4 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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts New Mexico's average monthly utility costs around $167 (state average). The average commute for Taos workers runs 19.6 minutes, with 70.8% driving alone and 12.5% working from home. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 58.9 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Moderate).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Taos'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 comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households to work and mobility to climate and hazard context to reported crime to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Taos, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What can 10 Census tracts reveal inside Taos?
PlainCities matches 10 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 Taos?
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.
Within New Mexico, the closest population matches are Aztec (6,177 residents, $42,699 income); Zuni Pueblo (6,132 residents, $43,021 income); Edgewood (6,122 residents, $81,227 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are East Flat Rock, NC (6,468 residents); Milford, MI (6,467 residents); Powell, WY (6,466 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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -24 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.4% 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.
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.
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 9 public schools within the city match. 36.2% 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 Taos?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 19.6 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
70.8%
Work from home
12.5%
Public transit
1.5%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 2,878 workers age 16+.
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 48.5°F, with 12.7 inches of precipitation and 28.4 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
58.9
Annual precipitation
12.7 in
Mean temperature
48.5°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 6915.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 203% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
6915.4
Violent rate
936.6
Property rate
5978.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Taos?
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. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 9.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 12.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
9.3×
Home value
$432,700
Household income
$46,579
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 B-
36.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
12.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$46,579
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
937 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Taos profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 77/100 (B+) · 92.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 69/100 (B-) · 36.2%
Poverty rate: 30/100 (F) · 12.5%
Household income: 16/100 (F) · $46,579
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 937 /100k
Where Taos sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Taos'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 - Taos highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Taos, NM (this city): home $432,700, crime 6,915/100k
Milford, MI : home $348,600, crime 330/100k
Powell, WY : home $265,400, crime 1,459/100k
Aztec, NM : home $164,700, crime 1,915/100k
Edgewood, NM : home $278,100, crime 1,636/100k
Truth or Consequences, NM : home $107,500, crime 3,292/100k
Raton, NM : home $148,200, crime 1,476/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Taos compare to other US cities?
Where Taos sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income15% higher than other cities
Home value80% pricier than other cities
Median rent39% pricier than other cities
Safety1% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to New Mexico alone, Taos ranks #42 of 42 New Mexico cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Taos 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 Taos near the bottom of New Mexico's cities
Among the 409 New Mexico cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Taos ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Taos only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#208 of 324
36th percentile in New Mexico
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 409
0th percentile in New Mexico
Median Home Value
#31 of 324
90th percentile in New Mexico
Poverty Rate
#199 of 408
50th percentile in New Mexico
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#77 of 409
81st 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
15th percentile nationally for median household income · 1st percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Taos's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Taos'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 Taos's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$432,70020th percentilemore affordable than 20% 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
Taos's home-value-to-income ratio: 9.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,282 of 15,516
More affordable than 2% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,177 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 9.3×, Taos sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,282 of 15,516 and #11,177 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$46,579Taos, NM median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Taos, 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 Taos, NM.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)36.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)12.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
6,468
Median Income
$46,579
Median Home Value
$432,700
Median Age
52.2
Poverty Rate
12.5%
Labor force participation
50.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
36.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
6915.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
936.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
5978.8
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
48.5°F
Annual Precipitation
12.7"
Annual Snowfall
28.4"
Schools
Total Schools
9
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Taos's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
6,550 residents
2021
6,571 residents
2022
6,515 residents
2023
6,496 residents
2024
6,505 residents
2025
6,526 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
19.6 minutes
Drive Alone
70.8%
Carpool
7.8%
Public Transit
1.5%
Walk
5.7%
Work from Home
12.5%
Other
1.7%
Based on 2,878 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 Taos. 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 Taos 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 Taos sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Taos 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.