Rio Arriba County, New Mexico Eviction Risk: Low

Rio Arriba County scores 3.4/10 (Low) on the EvictionRiskMap scale, landing it in the middle third of New Mexico's 34 counties. Thirteen counties in the state carry higher risk, and 20 are more landlord-friendly, so investors here face meaningful headwinds without being in the worst-case tier. Across the county's 20 cities, average rent runs $721 per month, renter share sits at 23.1%, and a poverty rate of 26.1% signals the tenant income fragility that drives collection risk in thin-margin rural markets.

The county-wide figure of 4.5 masks real variation on the ground. Scores stretch from a low of 3.2 at the least-risk end to a high of 4.9 at the top, a range that spans roughly two risk tiers. Landlords whose due diligence stops at the county average will systematically misprice deals at both extremes. The rent-burden average of 19.8% is comparatively contained, but poverty depth at 26.1% means any income disruption quickly converts a manageable tenant situation into a non-payment event.

The cities inside Rio Arriba County

Tierra Amarilla is the county's highest-risk community at 3.9/10 (population 429), followed by Dixon and Chama, each at 3.8/10. Dixon has 1,623 residents, making it one of the more consequential markets in the county; Chama counts 776. Dulce, the county's largest community at 3,218 residents, and Chimayo (population 2,390) both score 3/10, placing them in the upper half of the risk band. Investors sizing up multi-unit opportunities in these towns should budget for the full cost of a non-payment cycle rather than assuming quick resolution.

The most landlord-friendly location in the data is Ensenada, which scores 2.9/10 and has 733 residents, a full 1.7 points below Tierra Amarilla. El Rito (population 1,102) comes in at 3.9/10, and Los Luceros scores 3.2/10. The spread makes clear that risk in Rio Arriba County is hyper-local: a purchase decision made at the county average will be wrong for nearly every individual submarket on the list.

State-level laws that apply here

New Mexico eviction laws eviction law is governed by NMSA Section 47-8 (Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act). For non-payment of rent, landlords must serve a 3-day notice before filing; a lease-violation cure notice requires 7 days, and a no-cause end-of-term notice requires 30 days. State law requires landlords to give tenants 24 hours advance notice before entering a unit. Understanding the New Mexico eviction process in full is essential before acquiring here, because timing errors at the notice stage reset the clock entirely. Just-cause eviction requirements are not mandated statewide, and there is no rent cap formula in place under current New Mexico eviction laws law.

When an eviction does proceed to court, the New Mexico eviction costs add up quickly. Court filing fees run $132 to $200, sheriff lockout fees add another $50 to $175, and attorney fees for contested cases range from $500 to $3,000. An uncontested case resolves in 21 to 45 days; a contested matter can stretch to 120 days. Those timelines, combined with an average rent of $721, mean a drawn-out contested eviction can represent several months of lost gross income before a unit is re-leased.

With a poverty rate of 26.1% and only 23.1% of residents renting, Rio Arriba County is a low-density, high-vulnerability market; the city-level scores in the grid above show which specific communities carry the most concentrated exposure.