ZIP code 88231

ZIP 88231 is a small town in Lea County, New Mexico, with 3,360 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #91 of 372 ranked by population — larger than 75% of them. The median age here is 34.5 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger 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 ZIP 88231 earn a median of $72,019 a year, 8.3% below the national figure of $78,538. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 13.6% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 88231 is valued at $151,800, 50% below the national figure, while median gross rent runs $749 a month, 46.7% below the national figure, or roughly $8,988 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 12.5% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 2.1×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so purchase prices are unusually low against local pay, the pattern in places where supply is plentiful and wage growth has been flat. 78.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. 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.

ZIP 88231 is tabulated inside Lea County, New Mexico, one of 11 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 372 across New Mexico. Population sits in the small-town band, typically one main street plus the addresses that feed into it. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 88231 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 88231 reports a median household income of $72,019, close to the $72,019 county median, and 35% above the $53,479 typical NM ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $151,800, 13% below the county figure and 15% below the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $749 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

New Mexico charges 4.875% statewide, and local governments overlapping 88231 may add county, city or special-district levies on top. We publish the state floor for this ZIP rather than guessing a combined figure, because ZIP boundaries and taxing-district boundaries were drawn for different purposes and do not line up.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 88231 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.