Otero County, New Mexico: commercial real estate data.

Otero County

How many people live in Otero County

• Population, American Community Survey 2020-202468,816
• Households24,480
• Average household size2.81
• Median household income$55,876
• Median age36.4
• Median gross rent$962 per month
• Median owner-occupied home value$162,700
• Home value to household income2.9 times
• Annual rent as a share of median income20.7 percent
• Adults 25 and over with a bachelor degree or higher22.7 percent
• Adults 25 and over with a graduate degree7.6 percent
• Adults 25 and over45,839
• Population under 1815,054
• Share under 1821.9 percent
• Population 65 and over12,077
• Share 65 and over17.5 percent
• Working age population, 18 to 6441,685
• Civilian labor force26,481
• Unemployment rate8.6 percent
• Labor force participation, adults 18 and over49.3 percent
• Rank by population among New Mexico counties9th of 33
• Rank by population among US county-equivalents, Puerto Rico included797th of 3,222

Otero County is the 9th largest of 33 New Mexico counties by population. A median home costs 2.9 times median household income, which is affordable by national standards. Residents under 18 outnumber those 65 and over, at 21.9 percent against 17.5 percent, a household formation profile rather than a retirement one.

US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020-2024 5-year.

Otero County

Where are people moving to Otero County from?

• Tax returns filed by households arriving2,459
• People arriving, from those returns4,768
• Tax returns filed by households leaving2,443
• Net household movement16
• Adjusted gross income arriving$116.4 m
• Net adjusted gross income movement$-13.7 m
• Average income of an arriving household$47,340
• Average income of a leaving household$53,251
• Largest single originForeign - APO/FPO ZIPs (239 households)
• Largest single destinationDoña Ana County (226 households)

Households arriving report $5,911 less average income than households leaving, which drains spending power even where headcount holds up. The largest single source of arrivals is Foreign - APO/FPO ZIPs, which is the catchment a retail or multifamily study should look at first.

US Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income county migration flows, 2021 to 2022 filing years.

Otero County

Employment by industry in Otero County

• Covered employment, annual average17,528
• Establishments reporting1,328
• Average annual pay$50,017
• Average weekly wage$962
• Health care and social assistance, employment3,054
• Health care and social assistance, average annual pay$52,344
• Retail trade, employment2,339
• Retail trade, average annual pay$31,603
• Accommodation and food services, employment1,463
• Accommodation and food services, average annual pay$23,924
• Construction, employment956
• Construction, average annual pay$52,949
• Administrative and support and waste management services, employment944
• Professional, scientific and technical services, employment572

Health care and social assistance is the largest private sector at 3,054 jobs, 17.4 percent of covered employment.

US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 annual averages.

Otero County

Building permits in Otero County

• Housing units authorized by permit, 20246
• Declared construction value permitted$2.2 m
• Single family units authorized6
• Multifamily units authorized0
• Multifamily share of units0.0 percent
• Average declared value per unit$374,508
• Units authorized per 1,000 households0.2

Single-family homes are 100.0 percent of units authorized, so the pipeline is predominantly single-family.

US Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, 2024 annual.

Otero County

SBA loan default and charge-off rates in Otero County

Do SBA loans in Otero County get paid back?

• Loans with a final outcome recorded13
• Paid in full13
• Charged off0
• Status: Exempt from disclosure16
• Status: Paid in full13
• Status: Cancelled6
• Status: Committed, not yet disbursed3

Only 13 loans have reached a final outcome, fewer than the 30 a charge-off rate needs, so no rate is published.

Compare against the national and state SBA charge-off rates, computed the same way over resolved loans only.

US Small Business Administration, 7(a) FOIA release, FY2020 to FY2026 year to date, as of 2026-06-30.

Otero County

How large is Otero County?

• Land area6,613 sq mi
• Rank by land area among New Mexico counties3rd of 33
• Width, east to west89.4 mi
• Height, north to south96 mi
• Geographies sharing a boundary8
• Residents per square mile of land10
• Establishments per square mile0.15

US Census Bureau county boundary geometry, TIGER, adjacency computed from shared boundary vertices, TIGER county boundaries. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020-2024 5-year. US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2023.

Feasibility studies

When a Otero County site needs a document a lender will accept.

The same data layer behind this page is the one the studies are written from. A study for a Otero County site starts with the figures you are reading, carrying the same source and period into the credit file.

• Population, American Community Survey 2020-202468,816
• Households24,480
• Average household size2.81
• Median household income$55,876
• Median age36.4

How a feasibility study works →

Otero County

Cities and places in Otero.

17 Census places lie wholly or partly in Otero County. 16 carry enough published place level data for a page of their own and are linked. The rest are named here and not linked, because the American Community Survey and the SBA record between them do not carry enough about them to write an honest page. A place existing is itself worth knowing, so nothing in the county is left out.

A further 3 of the county's 38 SBA 7(a) approvals are to borrowers in cities that match no Census place in Otero County, the largest being High Rolls Mountain Park (3). Those are postal cities, unincorporated areas and cities outside the county, so no place row claims them; they are counted in the county total above.