Rio Arriba County, New Mexico: New American county. In 2024, voted D+19%. Democratic peak: D+53 in 2012.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- D+19MIT Election Lab
- Political typology
- New AmericanAkashic typology
- Population
- 40,0702024 5-year
- Median household income
- $57,1552024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 21.7%2024 5-year
- Black
- 0.7%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 67.2%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+53 in 2012MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+32 in 1920MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Hancock County, GA · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Rio Arriba CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Rio Arriba 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 | −20.5% |
| 1916 | −13.2% |
| 1920 | −31.9% |
| 1924 | −14.8% |
| 1928 | −25.4% |
| 1932 | +29.9% |
| 1936 | +6.8% |
| 1940 | +7.2% |
| 1944 | +3.5% |
| 1948 | +5.3% |
| 1952 | +2.6% |
| 1956 | −3.1% |
| 1960 | +25.4% |
| 1964 | +39.8% |
| 1968 | +9.5% |
| 1972 | +12.7% |
| 1976 | +37.4% |
| 1980 | +23.1% |
| 1984 | +25.3% |
| 1988 | +42.2% |
| 1992 | +44.6% |
| 1996 | +47.9% |
| 2000 | +38.6% |
| 2004 | +30.7% |
| 2008 | +50.9% |
| 2012 | +52.6% |
| 2016 | +40.3% |
| 2020 | +33.6% |
| 2024 | +19.4% |
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | 9,373 | 6,268 | 15,989 | ||
| D | 10,990 | 5,408 | 16,628 | ||
| D | 9,592 | 3,599 | 14,878 | ||
| D | 11,465 | 3,397 | 15,343 | ||
| D | 12,703 | 4,086 | 16,940 | ||
| D | 9,753 | 5,149 | 14,999 | ||
| D | 8,169 | 3,495 | 12,097 | ||
| D | 7,965 | 2,551 | 11,305 | ||
| D | 7,832 | 2,680 | 11,542 | ||
| D | 7,503 | 3,024 | 10,626 | ||
| D | 6,938 | 4,116 | 11,146 | ||
| D | 6,245 | 3,794 | 10,591 | ||
| D | 7,125 | 3,213 | 10,449 | ||
| D | 5,642 | 4,351 | 10,195 | ||
| D | 4,799 | 3,935 | 9,102 | ||
| D | 6,787 | 2,906 | 9,757 | ||
| D | 6,250 | 3,716 | 9,969 | ||
| R | 4,291 | 4,566 | 8,860 | ||
| D | 4,564 | 4,336 | 8,905 | ||
| D | 4,753 | 4,273 | 9,043 | ||
| D | 3,792 | 3,532 | 7,327 | ||
| D | 4,952 | 4,289 | 9,247 | ||
| D | 4,691 | 4,093 | 8,802 | ||
| D | 5,337 | 2,880 | 8,229 | ||
| R | 2,444 | 4,109 | 6,557 | ||
| R | 2,734 | 3,707 | 6,591 | ||
| R | 2,056 | 3,986 | 6,042 | ||
| R | 1,528 | 1,992 | 3,521 | ||
| R | 1,004 | 1,549 | 2,659 | ||
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Demographics
2024 ACS
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
4.6%
German
4.1%
Irish
3.8%
English
2.6%
Scottish
1.0%
Italian
0.9%
French
0.6%
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
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: 42.0 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
$57,155
Rio Arriba County ranks near the middle of US counties.
Rio Arriba County$57,155
New Mexico$64,059
United States$80,734
Rio Arriba 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
18.2%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1827.1%
Working age (18–64)15.5%
Seniors (65+)17.4%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
2024 ACS
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
48.6%
speak English only
Spanish44.4%
Other languages6.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.5%
Other Indo-European0.2%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
2020 religion census
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 20.9% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Rio Arriba's electorate is roughly 75% Hispanic, a demographic reality that has anchored consistent double-digit Democratic margins for decades. The county's rural high-desert geography and land-grant history make it culturally distinct from most of the rural West.
Rio Arriba County has leaned Democratic in recent presidential elections, reaching a Democratic margin of fifty-three points in 2012. Between 2020 and 2024 it moved fourteen points 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 22% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $57,155, and a population of 40,070. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Hancock County and Costilla 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.
Rio Arriba County, New Mexico. Akashic. https://akashic.app/county/35039/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More in New Mexico
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Frequently asked questions
How did Rio Arriba County, New Mexico vote in 2024?
In 2024, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico voted Democratic by 19.4 points (D+19), carried by the Democratic candidate. Out of 15,989 votes cast, 9,373 went Democratic and 6,268 went Republican.
What is Rio Arriba County, New Mexico's political typology?
Akashic places Rio Arriba 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 23 times, Republican 6 times, and other 0 times.
When did Rio Arriba County, New Mexico last vote Republican?
The most recent presidential election in which Rio Arriba County, New Mexico voted Republican was 1956.
How many people live in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico?
Rio Arriba County, New Mexico has a population of 40,070 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico?
Median household income in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico is $57,155 — below the national median of $80,734. The New Mexico state median is $64,059.
What is the political history of Rio Arriba County, New Mexico?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 23 went Democratic and 6 went Republican. The county's typology — "New American" — captures where that record, its demographics, and its recent swing place it among American communities.