Waterflow, NM population, income and ZIP codes

Waterflow CDP is a small town in New Mexico, with 1,215 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #137 of 527 ranked by population — larger than 74% of them. The median age here is 39.2 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Waterflow CDP earn a median of $60,278 a year, 23.2% below the national figure of $78,538 and 12% above the $54,029 median for the 153 New Mexico cities we cover. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 11.3% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Waterflow CDP is valued at $167,700, 44.7% below the national figure and 12% below the $190,000 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,602 a month, 13.9% above the national figure, or roughly $19,224 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 31.9% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is a stretch on median earnings. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 2.8×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is easier here than in the average US market. 60.5% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

Waterflow CDP is the unusual combination of expensive to rent and cheap to buy: rent takes 31.9% of median income while homes cost only 2.8× it. Where that pattern shows up, the gap is normally down to down-payment and credit barriers rather than price.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.