Counties / New Mexico / Harding County

Harding County, NM

FIPS 35021 · population 741 · outside every metro area

$70k
ACS owner-reported value · ACS 2024 5-year
The numbers

What this county costs and earns

Everything here joins on the county FIPS code, so each figure comes from the agency that publishes it with no name matching in between.

ACS owner-reported value
$70k
survey estimate; not a current listing or sale price
Census ACS · surveyed
ACS median gross rent
$1,038
occupied-unit survey; not current asking rent
Census ACS · surveyed
Gross yield
n/a
gross yield cannot be computed without measured market rent
requires both measured price and measured rent
HUD 2-bed standard
$1,040
the Section 8 payment standard
HUD Fair Market Rent · direct
Owner-reported value$70k
Surveyed gross rent$1,038
Rent burden 30%+25.0%
Median year built1960
Housing composition

Who occupies the stock—and what it is

ACS 2024 5-year
42.3%vacant
496estimated housing units
Occupied tenure23.1% renter
owner 76.9%renter 23.1%
Structure mix73.6% single-family
Single-family 73.6%20+ units 0.0%Mobile home 26.4%Other 0.0%
ACS estimates describe the standing housing stock and occupied tenure. They do not measure current listings, transaction prices or asking rents.

Survey source: Census ACS 5-year — county housing value, tenure and stock · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30. These values describe different housing universes and are not combined into gross yield.

Annual average covered jobs168▲ 3.7% from the prior annual release
Covered establishments32annual average reporting locations
Average weekly wage$959▲ 6.9% from the prior annual release
Largest private supersectorNatural resources and mining0.0% of disclosed private covered jobs
Local labor base

Jobs, pay and private-sector concentration

2025
0%COVERED JOBS+3.7%WEEKLY WAGE+6.9%Natural resources and mining0.0%
Annual QCEW counts cover jobs located at reporting establishments. The industry share uses disclosed private covered employment; it is not a resident-employment measure or a forecast.

Workplace source: BLS QCEW — county employment and wages · annual county employment and wages 2025 vs 2024 · pulled 2026-07-31. QCEW counts covered jobs located in the county, not employed residents or the metro score’s CES/LAUS series.

County brief

What the local evidence says

01Decision frame

Harding County has a small-market tension: an ACS owner-occupied value sits beside high vacancy and almost no visible listing depth. At 741 residents, it warrants property-by-property investigation, not scalable-comparable assumptions. Realtor.com showed one active MLS listing in June 2026 with no reported price reduction; that is visible supply and a seller-concession observation, not proof of buyer demand or a dependable price level. Zillow county values and FHFA annual HPI are not supplied, so current price direction cannot be tested.

02Housing economics

The ACS 2024 5-year survey reports a $70,000 owner-reported median value of owner-occupied homes and $1,038 surveyed median gross rent for occupied units. These measures cover different populations, are not current asking measures, and cannot be combined to infer yield. Published market rent is absent, so gross yield cannot be computed. HUD’s two-bedroom FMR of $1,040 is a payment standard, not market rent. The effective property-tax rate is 0.44%, with $305 median annual tax; this is a known tax line but insurance, utilities and capital needs are not published.

03Demand & competition

Housing-demand evidence is mixed: ACS vacancy is 42.34%, renter share is 23.08%, and 25% of computed renter households are rent-burdened. These are descriptive survey estimates, not demand forecasts. The stock is predominantly single-family and mobile homes, with no large-multifamily share, so property-level condition and capital review matter. QCEW in 2025 reports 168 annual-average covered jobs at county workplaces, not resident employment or unemployment. Natural resources and mining is named as largest disclosed private supersector, but the industry fields offer no usable concentration measure.

04Risk & next checks

The modeled climate loss ratio is 0.20% of building value per year, and inland flood is the dominant hazard; obtain parcel-level flood mapping, elevation, claim history, and insurance terms. The model is not actual loss experience. Migration, mover-income, investor-purchase, current market-rent, closed-sale, insurance-cost and property-condition evidence is not supplied, preventing tests of household inflow, buyer competition, price discovery and complete operating costs. Lease comps, occupancy history, sale comparables and a condition inspection are next checks.

Cities & communities

Where people live within Harding County

Census-recognized incorporated places and CDPs that intersect this county. The list does not pretend to include every neighborhood or informal community.

Population scale

Largest Census places

ACS 2024 5-year
Roy village302Mosquero village*25
Bars use total place population, not a county-share estimate. An asterisk marks a place that crosses a county line.
Official directory

2 Census places

Population
  1. 01
    Roy villageIncorporated place
    302
  2. 02
    Mosquero villageIncorporated place · spans 2 counties
    25

Population is the total place-wide ACS estimate, not an allocated county share. A place crossing a county line is labelled explicitly. Source: Census ACS 5-year — cities and communities · ACS 2024 5-year · pulled 2026-07-30.

Risk, demand and competition

The three things a price does not tell you

01
Risk & carrying costFEMA NRI + Census ACS
Dominant hazardinland flooding

0.204% of building value expected lost per year

Effective property tax0.44%

$305 median annual bill

02
DemandIRS SOI household flows
Net migrationn/a

Household flow not published

Arriving vs leaving incomen/a

Income flow not published

03
CompetitionHMDA financed purchases
Purchases by investorsn/a

Purchase mix not published

investorother financed
Current listing pressure

What sellers and visible supply are doing

Realtor.com® Economic Research · county inventory 2026-06 · pulled 2026-07-28
Active listings1n/a year over year
Median days on market44n/a year over year
Listings price-reduced0.0%seller-concession signal
Median listing pricen/an/a year over year

Listing price is an asking price, not a closed sale. Quality-flagged county rows are withheld instead of displayed.

No rent index is published for this county.Zillow’s county rent series does not cover every county, and estimating one from a neighbouring county would be a guess wearing a number’s clothes. Everything above is measured here; no wider market is mapped for it either.
Bear case

What can break the county thesis

  1. Survey-based ACS values and rents may not match a purchasable property or current lease market.
  2. Thin MLS evidence may misstate liquidity, price discovery and seller behavior.
  3. Flood exposure and unreported insurance or condition costs may alter the carrying-cost case.
Underwriting questions

Before pricing a property

Can gross yield be calculated from this record?

No. Market rent is not published, and neither HUD FMR nor ACS gross rent can be substituted for market rent.

What does the Realtor.com listing evidence establish?

It reports one active listing, a 44-day median marketing time, and no reported reduction; it does not establish closed-sale pricing or broad buyer demand.

Does the QCEW employment measure establish resident rental demand?

No. It measures annual average covered jobs located at county workplaces, not resident employment, unemployment or rental demand.