High RollsNM
A town of 1,313, settled in 1901.
Is High Rolls a good place to live?
The best of High Rolls’ subject grades are a B+ for cost of living and schools; the weakest is a D− for hazard risk. 0.8% of residents live below the poverty line in High Rolls, where New Mexico’s towns sit at 21% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. No town in New Mexico scores lower than High Rolls on hazard risk. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 96% of U.S. towns. 62% of the land in High Rolls is conserved, against 3.9% in New Mexico’s towns and 4.3% across U.S. towns. On history, just 4 of New Mexico’s 161 towns do worse. High Rolls has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
1,313 people, and everyone knows the way
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
How High Rolls grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Mexico), ordered by how far High Rolls is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
White Sands National Park and 6 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around High Rolls. Close and well known come first.
21 mi National ParkWhite Sands National Park660K visitors a year
7 mi MuseumNew Mexico Museum of Space History5.0M visitors a year
21 mi National forestLincoln National Forest6 mi Ski areaSki Cloudcroft26 runs · 634 ft vertical
10 mi Zoo & aquariumAlameda Park Zoo32 mi Ski areaSki Apache46 runs · 1,796 ft verticalPhoto credits
White Sands National Park: uncredited NPS employee, Public domain · New Mexico Museum of Space History: AllenS, Public domain · Lincoln National Forest: Dsw3131, Public domain · Alameda Park Zoo: AllenS, Public domain
Moving to High Rolls: who provides what
High Rolls is unincorporated, so Otero 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.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in High Rolls.
Conserved land covers nearly a third of High Rolls
9.1 miles of trail. The trail network density in High Rolls is 0.6 miles per square mile.
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
On state tests, High Rolls’ schools beat 68% of New Mexico districts
Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| High Rolls Mountain Park ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 21 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NM on state tests and graduation
Compared with most of New Mexico and the rest of the country, the FEMA risk score in High Rolls is higher
Of the losses FEMA expects in High Rolls, 73% come from wildfires and 25% from inland flooding. Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 100% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Fewer middle-aged adults than New Mexico overall
High Rolls: just over two in five adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more. Adults 35 to 64 are 16% of residents (37% statewide); people 65 and older are 38% of residents (19% statewide).
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±9.6 points. Across New Mexico, 50.3% of residents are women.
| High Rolls | NM | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 23.3% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 6.2% | 10.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 10.8% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 5.9% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 1.9% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 5.2% | 11.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 8.6% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 18% | 11.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 20.1% | 7.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 1.9% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 21.6% | 25.7% | 26% |
| Some college | 23% | 22.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 12.8% | 9.2% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 9.6% | 17.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 31.2% | 13.9% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,300, single groups can be off by several points
With 0.5 jobs for every working resident, most of High Rolls’ workers commute out
For High Rolls, the income of the median household is $86,000. Most people who work leave High Rolls to do it: just 5% work in town. The top destinations are Alamogordo (15%), Cloudcroft (9%) and El Paso (9%). Half of commuters travel less than 72 miles.
| High Rolls | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $86,000 | $55,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 5.2% | 14% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In High Rolls, a typical July afternoon runs cooler than in the typical New Mexico or U.S. town
High Rolls has chilly winters and pleasant summers, with very little rain. July afternoons reach 80°, January nights drop to 25° and about 17 inches of snow falls in a winter.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
High Rolls is less healthy than 60% of U.S. towns
Among adults in High Rolls, 17% report frequent physical distress. Against the New Mexico average, High Rolls comes out ahead on 10 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 7. Two figures for adults in the town: 12% binge drink, 30% feel lonely. Only 6 of the 74 New Mexico towns we compare have a lower share of adults 18 to 64 who have no health insurance than High Rolls.
| High Rolls | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 45% | 35% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 13% | 16% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 30% | 35% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 77% | 69% | 79% |
| What stands out | High Rolls | NM |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 8.4% | 15.6% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 10.1% | 16.5% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 12.1% | 7.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Homes in High Rolls sell for about $440K
For households in High Rolls, the share who own their home is 98%.
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about High Rolls
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of High Rolls
About 3 of every 100 High Rolls residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Mexico.
95% of working residents leave High Rolls for work
Where High Rolls’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About High Rolls
Place in New Mexico, United States
High Rolls is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Otero County, New Mexico, United States. It is nestled within the Lincoln National Forest at the southernmost tip of the Sacramento Mountains. As of the 2020 census, High Rolls had a population of 862.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Elevation
- 6,800 ft
Questions about High Rolls
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is High Rolls, NM expensive?
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $258,000, 18% below the New Mexico typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.