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Place dossier plate
SheetNM-VELARDE-NM · Velarde, NM 248 pop · income 41st pct
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 Velarde
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Velarde on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Villanueva · lowest
28,665
Villanueva · lowest
28,665 median HH income
18.7% of the leader · rank #1
Damariscotta · near
63,696
Damariscotta · near
63,696 median HH income
41.5% of the leader · rank #2
Walthill · near
63,702
Walthill · near
63,702 median HH income
41.5% of the leader · rank #3
Cullman · near
63,704
Cullman · near
63,704 median HH income
41.5% of the leader · rank #4
Velarde · this city
63,707
Velarde · this city
63,707 median HH income
41.5% of the leader · rank #5
Aberdeen · near
63,715
Aberdeen · near
63,715 median HH income
41.5% of the leader · rank #6
No Name · highest
153,361
No Name · highest
153,361 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 Velarde 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: 248.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Velarde lands in the 41st percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
41st
percentile, household income
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: Velarde, NM
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 248 residents in Velarde, a small town within New Mexico. The typical household in Velarde brings in $63,707 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 100.0%. The median resident age is 47.8 years. Educational attainment runs 33.3% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 82.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. 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. 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 Velarde'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Velarde, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Velarde?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 68.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Velarde?
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 Madrid (248 residents); Medanales (246 residents); Turley (250 residents, $46,900 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Lower Santan, AZ (248 residents); Elmira, CA (248 residents); Garden Farms, CA (248 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 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.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 33.3% 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.
Below median income · poverty 100.0% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
92.2 (US=100)
Affordable · BEA RPP 2024, New Mexico average
D
City profile score · Velarde, NM
44/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share C+
33.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income D
$63,707
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
100.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Velarde profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 77/100 (B+) · 92.2 index
Bachelor's+ share: 64/100 (C+) · 33.3%
Household income: 40/100 (D) · $63,707
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 100.0%
How does Velarde compare to other US cities?
Here's how Velarde stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income41% higher 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 Velarde 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 Velarde near the bottom of New Mexico's cities
Among the 409 New Mexico cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Velarde ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Velarde only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#130 of 324
60th percentile in New Mexico
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 409
0th percentile in New Mexico
Poverty Rate
#1 of 408
98th percentile in New Mexico
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#89 of 409
78th 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. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$63,707Velarde, NM median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Velarde, 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 Velarde, NM.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)33.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)100.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)82.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
248
Median Income
$63,707
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
47.8
Poverty Rate
100.0%
Labor force participation
82.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
33.3%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
68.1%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
31.9%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 166 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 Velarde. 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 Velarde 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 Velarde sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Velarde 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, 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.