Otero County, New Mexico: New American county. In 2024, voted R+27%. Republican peak: R+40 in 1984.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+27MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 68,8162024 5-year
- Median household income
- $55,8762024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 54.0%2024 5-year
- Black
- 3.6%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 39.6%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+36 in 1932MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+40 in 1984MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Glynn County, GA · similarity 1.00
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Otero CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Otero County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
—
Margin—
Turnout—
Harris +50Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1876–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
| Year | Margin (D minus R) |
|---|---|
| 1876 | No data |
| 1880 | No data |
| 1884 | No data |
| 1888 | No data |
| 1892 | No data |
| 1896 | No data |
| 1900 | No data |
| 1904 | No data |
| 1908 | No data |
| 1912 | +19.9% |
| 1916 | +17.4% |
| 1920 | −5.6% |
| 1924 | +2.7% |
| 1928 | −4.2% |
| 1932 | +35.9% |
| 1936 | +19.6% |
| 1940 | +5.7% |
| 1944 | +12.6% |
| 1948 | +27.0% |
| 1952 | −6.4% |
| 1956 | −21.0% |
| 1960 | +4.3% |
| 1964 | +26.5% |
| 1968 | −4.9% |
| 1972 | −38.0% |
| 1976 | −5.1% |
| 1980 | −25.9% |
| 1984 | −39.6% |
| 1988 | −30.4% |
| 1992 | −13.0% |
| 1996 | −19.1% |
| 2000 | −29.6% |
| 2004 | −36.8% |
| 2008 | −19.3% |
| 2012 | −28.1% |
| 2016 | −28.7% |
| 2020 | −25.6% |
| 2024 | −27.0% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 8,582 | 15,117 | 24,242 | ||
| R | 8,485 | 14,521 | 23,571 | ||
| R | 6,124 | 11,887 | 20,060 | ||
| R | 6,829 | 12,451 | 20,012 | ||
| R | 8,610 | 12,806 | 21,766 | ||
| R | 6,433 | 14,066 | 20,764 | ||
| R | 5,465 | 10,258 | 16,204 | ||
| R | 5,938 | 9,065 | 16,337 | ||
| R | 5,377 | 7,481 | 16,203 | ||
| R | 5,284 | 9,984 | 15,478 | ||
| R | 4,167 | 9,751 | 14,087 | ||
| R | 4,111 | 7,210 | 11,965 | ||
| R | 5,333 | 5,914 | 11,352 | ||
| R | 2,981 | 7,033 | 10,670 | ||
| R | 3,978 | 4,475 | 10,224 | ||
| D | 6,035 | 3,498 | 9,560 | ||
| D | 4,916 | 4,507 | 9,426 | ||
| R | 2,558 | 3,919 | 6,483 | ||
| R | 2,162 | 2,456 | 4,620 | ||
| D | 2,361 | 1,354 | 3,733 | ||
| D | 1,892 | 1,467 | 3,362 | ||
| D | 1,788 | 1,596 | 3,389 | ||
| D | 1,989 | 1,333 | 3,355 | ||
| D | 2,091 | 969 | 3,127 | ||
| R | 1,148 | 1,250 | 2,408 | ||
| D | 886 | 832 | 2,021 | ||
| R | 1,095 | 1,229 | 2,393 | ||
| D | 824 | 561 | 1,515 | ||
| D | 420 | 220 | 1,006 | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — | ||
| — | — | — | — |
Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
English
11.6%
German
9.4%
Irish
8.6%
American
3.5%
Scottish
2.6%
Italian
2.2%
French
1.2%
African American
2.9%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
2024 ACS
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 36.4 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
85+
75–84
65–74
55–64
45–54
35–44
25–34
18–24
5–17
<5
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Median household income
Inflation-adjusted dollars
$55,876
Otero County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Otero County$55,876
New Mexico$64,059
United States$80,734
Otero County ranks near the middle of US counties by median household income.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
19.3%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1827.0%
Working age (18–64)17.4%
Seniors (65+)13.1%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
75.2%
speak English only
Spanish20.9%
Other languages2.2%
Asian & Pacific Islander1.1%
Other Indo-European0.5%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 67.5% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Home to Holloman Air Force Base and the Sacramento Mountains, Otero County has voted Republican by double digits in every recent presidential cycle, with its mix of military families and rural ranchers producing some of New Mexico's widest partisan margins.
Otero County has leaned Republican in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of thirty-six points in 1932. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved one point toward the Republican candidate — part of the sharpest rightward shift recorded among any group of places in the country.
Its demographics describe the shift: a 54% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $55,876, and a population of 68,816. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Glynn County and Warren County.
Most similar counties
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Otero County, New Mexico. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/35035/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in New Mexico
More new american counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Otero County, New Mexico vote in 2024?
In 2024, Otero County, New Mexico voted Republican by 27.0 points (R+27), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 24,242 votes cast, 8,582 went Democratic and 15,117 went Republican.
What is Otero County, New Mexico's political typology?
Akashic places Otero County, New Mexico in the "New American" typology — Communities where a large share of households speak a language other than English — multilingual, Democratic-leaning overall, yet the hardest-swinging bloc toward the Republican Party in 2024. The typology is a data-driven cluster built from vote share, vote swing, race and ethnicity, income, language spoken at home, religion, and ancestry. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the county has voted Democratic 10 times, Republican 19 times, and other 0 times.
When did Otero County, New Mexico last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Otero County, New Mexico voted Democratic was 1964.
How many people live in Otero County, New Mexico?
Otero County, New Mexico has a population of 68,816 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Otero County, New Mexico?
Median household income in Otero County, New Mexico is $55,876 — below the national median of $80,734. The New Mexico state median is $64,059.
What is the political history of Otero County, New Mexico?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Otero County, New Mexico from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 10 went Democratic and 19 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.