75,151 people (2024 Census estimate, +0.7% since 2020)
4,392 square miles of land · 17 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
10 active community water systems list Lea County in the area they serve, reporting 65,382 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| HOBBS MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · NM3521613 | 40,418 served |
| LOVINGTON MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLY groundwater · local government · NM3521813 | 13,539 served |
| JAL WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM groundwater · local government · NM3521713 | 5,500 served |
| EUNICE WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM groundwater · local government · NM3521513 | 4,487 served |
| TATUM MUNICIPAL WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · NM3522013 | 948 served |
| MONUMENT MDWCA groundwater · local government · NM3537113 | 279 served |
| ADOBE VILLAGE groundwater · private · NM3557513 | 83 served |
| MESCALERO RIDGE WATER CO-OP buys groundwater · local government · NM3521913 | 76 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 236 people were held in Lea County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 505 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 360.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
5 school districts have their office in Lea County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $171.1 million — $132.8 million to run schools, about $13,294 per student, plus $36.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $31.1 million local (mostly property tax), $103.8 million state, $23.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $61.2 million.
Spent $57.8 million — $51.9 million to run schools, about $15,348 per student, plus $5.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $11.9 million local (mostly property tax), $42.8 million state, $8 million federal. Long-term debt: $31.5 million.
Spent $20.4 million — $11.6 million to run schools, about $15,978 per student, plus $7.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $34 million local (mostly property tax), $8.3 million state, $685,000 federal. Long-term debt: $16.3 million.
Spent $25.2 million — $9.2 million to run schools, about $17,529 per student, plus $14.8 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $70.8 million local (mostly property tax), $6.9 million state, $382,000 federal. Long-term debt: $65.5 million.
Spent $8 million — $5.9 million to run schools, about $19,735 per student, plus $2.1 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $3.1 million local (mostly property tax), $5.3 million state, $630,000 federal. Long-term debt: $4.3 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Relatively Moderate compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Lea County about $45.2 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Relatively High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
10 bridges in Lea County: 1 in good condition, 9 fair, and 0 poor (0.0%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $47.9 million of work in Lea County in fiscal 2025, about $644 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for New Mexico are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Lea County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Lea County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of New Mexico: the state government and every county in New Mexico.
Nearby counties: Yoakum County, TX (42 mi) · Gaines County, TX (45 mi) · Andrews County, TX (56 mi) · Eddy County (57 mi) · Cochran County, TX (65 mi) · Loving County, TX (66 mi).