Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Socorro earns a D, ranked 50th of 72 in New Mexico, mostly because of incomes. The median household income is $39K, and 33% of residents live below the poverty line. In its favor, it is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns. Socorro’s mean commuting time is 11 minutes, where New Mexico’s towns sit at 23 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes. Only 6 of New Mexico’s 161 towns score lower on hazard risk. Its National Register listings include Garcia Opera House and Bursum House.
Where Socorro beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Garcia Opera HouseIts founding year, 1598, is the earliest of any New Mexico town we grade. Its 18 National Register listings are more than in 93% of New Mexico towns with a listing.
Census counts: 1,272 in 1880, a low of 1,256 in 1920, 8,707 in 2020. The archive holds 11 old photos and papers going back to 1628 and 3 maps from 1906 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Mexico), ordered by how far Socorro is from typical.
Its grades run from A for walkability (better than 88% of comparable towns) to D− for hazard risk (better than 4%), so the D overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Socorro, and how to reach them.
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 Socorro.
Socorro has more trail for its size than nearly any town in New Mexico, is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has hotter summers than nearly all U.S. towns.
At 5.1 miles of trail per square mile, it ranks #3 of 66 New Mexico towns.
Conserved land makes up 0.4% of Socorro. The biggest park or preserve is Sedillo Park, at 22 acres. In 8 parks and preserves, walkers have 73 miles of trail.
| Socorro | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 5.1 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.4% | 4% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Sedillo Park | 0.4 mi | 22 |
| 2. Clark Field | — | 8 |
| 3. NMT Alumni Hill Park | 0.2 mi | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Two of the 4 schools are below, and why each made the list. The largest public high school is Socorro High, with 378 students. The Socorro school district runs its public schools.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parkview ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–5 | Grades PK–5 | 382 | – |
| Socorro HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 378 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NM on state tests and graduation
Of the losses FEMA expects in Socorro, 79% come from inland flooding and 10% from earthquakes. Compared with 92% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage locally is higher. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Socorro after 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2011.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
At about $195K, home values are up 7% in five years, against a rise of 25% across New Mexico.
Values rose 3.3% in the 12 months to September 2026. Socorro’s midpoint rent is $711 a month. Also worth knowing: 57% of Socorro households are owner-occupiers.
| Socorro | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 57% | 70% | 73% |
| Median rent | $711 a month | $944 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
32.6% of residents live below the poverty line, against 17.8% across New Mexico, which weighs on its C− for jobs and income.
The Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate puts Socorro at 8,261 residents, down 5.1% since 2020. Adults 18 to 34 are a third of residents (23% statewide); adults 35 to 64 are 27% of residents (37% statewide). The age of the median resident for Socorro comes to 29.6 years. A bachelor’s degree or higher: 25% of adults 25 and older, vs 31% across New Mexico.
| Socorro | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median age | 29.6 years | 37.5 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 25% | 23% | 29% |
46% women, 54% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±7.7 points. Across New Mexico, 50.3% of residents are women.
| Socorro | NM | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 7.7% | 11% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 14.3% | 10.7% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 22.2% | 9.3% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.1% | 13.2% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 9.9% | 12.8% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 10.1% | 11.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 7% | 12.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.4% | 11.5% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 7.3% | 7.8% | 7% |
| No diploma | 18% | 12% | 10.4% |
| High school | 33.1% | 25.7% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.7% | 22.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 5.1% | 9.2% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 12.5% | 17.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 12.6% | 13.9% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates
July afternoons average 94.4°, hotter than in 95% of U.S. towns; January nights average 21.2°.
For Socorro, the midsummer high is 94°F. About 2 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Socorro | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 94°F | 93°F | 85°F |
| January low | 21°F | 21°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The average commute for its 3,444 working residents takes 11.3 minutes, against 23.5 across New Mexico.
Half commute less than 5 miles. Jobs based in Socorro fell to 3,310 in 2023, 185 fewer than in 2013. The top destinations are Albuquerque (18%), Lemitar (2%) and Las Cruces (2%).
| Socorro | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 49% | 13% | 8% |
| Median household income | $39,000 | $55,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Against the 2,203 U.S. towns with household incomes like Socorro’s, it is healthier than 92%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Among adults in Socorro, 31% sleep under 7 hours and 31% have high blood pressure. The town does better than the New Mexico average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and worse on 2. For adults in the town, the share who had a checkup this year is 67%.
| Socorro | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 67% | 69% | 79% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 34% | 36% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 16% | 8.1% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 35% | 35% |
| What stands out | Socorro | NM |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 6% | 7.4% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 21.9% | 25.6% |
| Fewer adults seeing a dentist | 56.6% | 61.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
1 within 15 miles of the center of Socorro
College town 19 of every 100 Socorro residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Mexico.
0.4% of the town is conserved land, across 8 parks and preserves.
18 places in Socorro on the National Register of Historic Places.
5 notable people were born in Socorro.
City in New Mexico, United States
Socorro (, sə-KOR-oh) is a city in Socorro County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is in the Rio Grande Valley at an elevation of 4,579 feet (1,396 m). At the 2020 census, the population was 8,707. It is the county seat of Socorro County. Socorro is located 74 miles (119 km) south of Albuquerque and 146 miles (235 km) north of Las Cruces. The instruments used by the LINEAR program are located at Lincoln Laboratory's Experimental Test Site (ETS) on the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) near Socorro, New Mexico.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Socorro grades D overall, better than 14% of U.S. towns and #50 of 72 in New Mexico. It grades C+ for health and B− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. That is 5.3 years of the area's median household income ($36,570 across the county). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
5 notable people were born here, including Elfego Baca and Robert Fortune Sanchez.
