Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,218, settled in 1892. A regional job hub with 1,564 jobs.
Dulce earns a D, ranked 65th of 72 in New Mexico, mostly because of health and incomes. Residents are less healthy than 97% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. The median household income is $40K, and 22% of residents live below the poverty line. In its favor, a typical home costs about $53K, less than a year of the Española area’s $57K median household income. Dulce’s typical journey to work is 10 minutes, below both New Mexico’s towns (23 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). Dulce's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 100% of U.S. towns. No town among the 70 in New Mexico we compare has a lower midpoint rent than Dulce.
Where Dulce beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Where Dulce’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Mexico), ordered by how far Dulce is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for cost of living (better than 99% of comparable towns) to D− for jobs and income (better than 3%), so the D overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2004 and 3 maps from 1954 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Dulce is unincorporated, so Rio Arriba County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 27, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Dulce.
Dulce draws workers from Farmington and beyond and has a shorter frost-free season than nearly all U.S. towns, but it is a long drive from an emergency room.
The nearest emergency room, Pagosa Springs Medical Center, is 21.2 miles away in a straight line. Against the 2,320 U.S. towns with household incomes like Dulce’s, it is less healthy than 81%, so its D− isn’t only a matter of income.
Among 73 New Mexico towns, just 6 have a higher share of adults who worry about having enough food than Dulce. For adults in the town, the share who smoke cigarettes is 27%. This New Mexico town beats the New Mexico average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 21. In Dulce, 24% of adults report frequent mental distress, and 20% report frequent physical distress.
| Dulce | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 14% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 16% | 17% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 17% | 14% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 23% | 14% |
| What stands out | Dulce | NM |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.2% | 7.4% |
| Fewer adults with high cholesterol | 29.6% | 35.1% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 36.3% | 14.2% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The public schools here belong to the Dulce school district. Its two schools are below. 2 public schools serve Dulce, with 290 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dulce MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 130 | – |
| Dulce HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 160 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NM on state tests and graduation
1,564 jobs are based in Dulce, 2.3 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 10 minutes, against 23.5 across New Mexico.
For half of commuters, work is under 1 miles away. The top destinations are Albuquerque (4%), Farmington (2%) and Durango (1%).
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Expected damage from storms and floods is higher here than in 89% of U.S. communities. FEMA puts 84% of Dulce’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 6% to lightning. One declared disaster, in 2024, has brought federal aid to Dulce households.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The Dulce weather station records that the frost-free season runs about 103 days, shorter than in 99% of U.S. towns.
The July high for Dulce comes to 86°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Dulce’s density of trails stands at 0.2 miles per square mile. 2.6 miles of trail.
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
None within 15 miles of Dulce; the nearest are
About 4 of every 100 Dulce residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Mexico.
Census-designated place in New Mexico, United States
Dulce ( or ; Jicarilla Apache: Lóosi) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, Dulce had a population of 2,788. It is almost entirely Native American. It is the largest community and tribal headquarters of the Jicarilla Apache Reservation.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Dulce grades D overall, better than 7% of U.S. towns and #65 of 72 in New Mexico. It grades D− for health and D− for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D−.
Not for the area. That is 0.9 years of the area's median household income ($57,155 across the Española, NM area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A+.