Rio Rancho EstatesNM
A town of 1,571.
Is Rio Rancho Estates a good place to live?
The best of Rio Rancho Estates’ subject grades are an A+ for cost of living and an A for schools; the weakest is a D for walkability. Rio Rancho Estates’ trail network density is 1.9 miles per square mile, against 1.0 in New Mexico’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. On history, just 12 of New Mexico’s 161 towns do worse. Rio Rancho Estates has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
What makes Rio Rancho Estates stand out
Where Rio Rancho Estates beats most towns.
100% of working residents leave Rio Rancho Estates for work
Where Rio Rancho Estates’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Rio Rancho Estates grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Mexico), ordered by how far Rio Rancho Estates is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
University Stadium and 25 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Rio Rancho Estates. Close and well known come first.
19 mi Stadium & arenaUniversity Stadium
8 mi National MonumentPetroglyph National Monument311K visitors a year
6 mi Stadium & arenaRio Rancho Events Center
38 mi National PreserveValles Caldera National Preserve85K visitors a year
37 mi National MonumentBandelier National Monument248K visitors a year
17 mi TheatreKiMo TheaterPhoto credits
University Stadium: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY 4.0 · Petroglyph National Monument: Unknown, Public domain · Rio Rancho Events Center: Maryabm2009, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Valles Caldera National Preserve: Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, Public domain · Bandelier National Monument: Andrew Dunn (talk · contribs), CC BY-SA 2.0 · KiMo Theater: Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA 4.0
Moving to Rio Rancho Estates: who provides what
Rio Rancho Estates is unincorporated, so Sandoval 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 Rio Rancho Estates.
Top of a very low hazard risk in Rio Rancho Estates: inland flooding
65% of Rio Rancho Estates’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by earthquakes at 9%. Expected damage from storms and floods is lower here than in 84% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The average trip to work in Rio Rancho Estates is longer than in the typical New Mexico or U.S. town
No town among the 74 in New Mexico we compare has a lower share of working residents who work in town than Rio Rancho Estates. Rio Rancho Estates: 20% of residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in the town fell to 37 in 2023, 391 fewer than in 2013. The top destinations are Albuquerque (46%), Rio Rancho (19%) and Santa Fe (7%).
| Rio Rancho Estates | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 43 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 0.3% | 14% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 20% | 21% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Rio Rancho Estates is healthier than seven in ten U.S. towns
Among adults in Rio Rancho Estates, 19% worry about having enough food. Against the New Mexico average, Rio Rancho Estates comes out ahead on 10 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 1. Rio Rancho Estates: 66% of adults had a checkup this year, where New Mexico’s towns sit at 69% and U.S. towns at 79%. In Rio Rancho Estates, 29% of adults have high blood pressure, and 11% smoke cigarettes.
| Rio Rancho Estates | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 66% | 69% | 79% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 29% | 35% | 35% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 11% | 14% | 14% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 17% | 14% |
| What stands out | Rio Rancho Estates | NM |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with COPD | 4.4% | 6.6% |
| Fewer adults with heart disease | 5% | 7.2% |
| Fewer adults treating high blood pressure | 69.5% | 73.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Four seasons and hot summers: that is Rio Rancho Estates’ year
Rio Rancho Estates’ midsummer high comes in at 89°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Rio Rancho Estates
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Rio Rancho Estates
About 3 of every 100 Rio Rancho Estates residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Mexico.
About Rio Rancho Estates
Census-designated place in New Mexico, United States
Rio Rancho Estates is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Sandoval County, New Mexico, United States. It was first listed as a CDP prior to the 2020 census. As of the 2020 census, Rio Rancho Estates had a population of 1,801. The CDP is in the southern part of the county, bordered to the east and south by the city of Rio Rancho. The southern border of the CDP partially follows the Bernalillo County line. The community is 18 miles (29 km) north-northwest of the center of Albuquerque.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 68 sq mi
- Elevation
- 6,007 ft
Rio Rancho Estates’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Rio Rancho Estates.
| Town | NM rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rio Rancho Estates | — | — | A+ | — | A | B+ |
| Rio Rancho | #3 | B | C | C | A | A− |
Rio Rancho Estates has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Rio Rancho Estates reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Rio Rancho Estates with a neighbor →
Questions about Rio Rancho Estates
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Rio Rancho Estates, NM expensive?
Not for the 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+.