20,025 people (2024 Census estimate, −1.4% since 2020)
4,831 square miles of land · 4 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.
21 active community water systems list Lincoln County in the area they serve, reporting 27,677 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| RUIDOSO WATER SYSTEM surface water · local government · NM3513114 | 15,947 served |
| ALTO LAKES WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICT groundwater · private · NM3558514 | 2,870 served |
| RUIDOSO DOWNS WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · NM3513214 | 2,146 served |
| CAPITAN WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · NM3512514 | 1,821 served |
| CARRIZOZO WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · NM3512614 | 1,136 served |
| CDS RAINMAKERS UTIL LLC RANCHO RUIDOSO groundwater · private · NM3521014 | 877 served |
| BONITA PARK NAZARENE CONFERENCE CENTER groundwater · private · NM3533914 | 460 served |
| SUN VALLEY WATER AND SANITATION DISTRICT groundwater · local government · NM3533814 | 443 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 82 people were held in Lincoln County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 776 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 276.
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 Lincoln County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $33.5 million — $27.4 million to run schools, about $15,052 per student, plus $5.2 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $7.7 million local (mostly property tax), $21.6 million state, $5.3 million federal. Long-term debt: $39.9 million.
Spent $9.6 million — $8 million to run schools, about $16,953 per student, plus $1.6 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.8 million local (mostly property tax), $6.8 million state, $1.5 million federal. Long-term debt: $5.6 million.
Spent $4.3 million — $3.9 million to run schools, about $24,739 per student, plus $394,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.5 million local (mostly property tax), $3.4 million state, $787,000 federal. Long-term debt: $3.4 million.
Spent $5.2 million — $4.6 million to run schools, about $37,000 per student, plus $518,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $534,000 local (mostly property tax), $4 million state, $756,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.7 million.
Spent $3.2 million — $3 million to run schools, about $42,343 per student, plus $201,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $988,000 local (mostly property tax), $2.6 million state, $183,000 federal.
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 Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Lincoln County about $27.8 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
131 bridges in Lincoln County: 50 in good condition, 79 fair, and 2 poor (1.5%). “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.
| 27-Z003 over RIO RUIDOSO · built 1960 | 337 vehicles a day |
| NM-395 over Rio Hondo · built 1953 | 160 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $69.4 million of work in Lincoln County in fiscal 2025, about $3,423 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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of New Mexico: the state government and every county in New Mexico.
Nearby counties: Torrance County (62 mi) · Chaves County (62 mi) · De Baca County (75 mi) · Otero County (80 mi) · Guadalupe County (87 mi) · Socorro County (87 mi).