City in New Mexico, United States

Ruidoso

$327kMedian Home
353Sunny Days/yr
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View on MapPopulation8kCenter elevation6,729 ft
Quick Read

Ruidoso is a village in Lincoln County, New Mexico, United States, adjacent to the Lincoln National Forest. The population was 7,679 at the 2020 census. The city of Ruidoso Downs and the unincorporated area of Alto are suburbs of Ruidoso, and contribute to the Ruidoso Micropolitan Statistical Area's population of 21,223.

Place

Where It Is

Location Context
Ruidoso, New Mexico
Latitude33.33°
Longitude-105.67°
Population8k
Center elevation6,729 ft

State Context

New MexicoU.S. state

New Mexico is a landlocked state in the Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also borders the state of Texas to the east and southeast, Oklahoma to the northeast, and shares an international border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora to the south. New Mexico's largest city is Albuquerque, and its state capital is Santa Fe, the oldest state capital in the U.S.—founded in 1610 as the government seat of Nuevo México in New Spain—and the highest in elevation, at 7,000 feet (2,134 m).Wikipedia

Income tax: 1.70% - 5.90%Avg sales tax: 7.61%Property tax: 0.62%Official school data available

About the Region

Desert Southwest

The Desert Southwest — Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico — shares a climate defined by heat, aridity, and extraordinary landscape. Phoenix has grown into one of the country's largest cities on the premise of air-conditioned suburban living, a bargain for decades that is being stress-tested by climate shifts pushing summer highs above 110°F and placing long-term water resources under pressure. Las Vegas offers Nevada's zero income tax and extraordinary entertainment infrastructure against the same water equation tied to a shrinking Colorado River.

Tucson, Albuquerque, and Santa Fe offer a different profile: human-scale cities with deep roots in Spanish colonial and Indigenous traditions, lower costs than their larger neighbors, and the landscape that draws artists, retirees, and outdoor enthusiasts. The region's sunlight is exceptional — Phoenix regularly exceeds 300 sunny days per year — and the cultural texture across New Mexico in particular is unlike anywhere else in the United States.

Outdoors

Nature Access

Nature & Park Feeds

Closest protected landscapes, reserves, and big park systems surfaced from the same nearby feeds used in compare.

Distances in miles
National Park Service feed

Federal Park Sites

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OpenStreetMap feed

Local Nature & Reserves

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Sources: National Park Service and OpenStreetMap
People

City Profile

Median Age44 yrs
College Educated24%bachelor's or higher
Work From Home11%of workforce
Practical

Cost of Living

Housing
$327k
Median home price
Household Income
$36k
Median annual
Daily life

Livability

Internet
Fiber
10%
Cable
99%
address availability
The year

Climate

Sunshine
353
sunny days per year
97% of the year
Annual precipitation
22"
inches per year
Typical Air Quality
47
Good · 2024 modeled average
Right now

Current Conditions

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Local Next Steps

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