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Rio Rancho, "The City of Vision", a suburb of Albuquerque, is the largest city and economic hub of Sandoval County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the third-largest and fastest-growing city in New Mexico. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 51,765. The current population is estimated to be 70,000, and will likely surpass 100,000 by 2010. The city is still relatively young, and no structures there are older than 40 years.
History
The Rio Rancho area was originally part of the Alameda Land Grant, which was founded by the Spanish in 1710. By the early twentieth century, much of the land grant had been sold to land investment companies. AMREP Southwest, Inc. purchased 55,000 acres in 1961 and turned the land into a housing development called "Rio Rancho Estates" with the first families moving in the early 1960s. The population grew tenfold between 1970 and 1980, and the City of Rio Rancho was incorporated in 1981. The opening of a large Intel Corporation plant in 1981 had a major economic impact on the city.
Since the 1990s, Rio Rancho has taken steps to become more independent from neighboring Albuquerque, including the establishment of separate school and library systems and attempts to attract businesses to the area. The city's latest project is a major new urban center development that will include a 6500-seat arena and a new city hall building, scheduled for completion by the end of 2006.
Geography
Rio Rancho is bordered by Albuquerque to the south, the Santa Ana Indian Reservation to the north, and Bernalillo and Corrales to the east. The northeast corner of the city is bounded by the Rio Grande River.
Economy
The Intel Corporation is by far the largest employer in Rio Rancho, even though it is technically located outside of the city boundaries. The services, retail, and government sectors are also major components of the local economy.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 51,765 people residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 64.1% White non-Hispanic, 2.7% African-American, 3.4% Native American, 10.85% from other races, and 4.12% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 27.7% of the population.
There were 18,995 households out of which 40.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.4% were married couples living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.7% were non-families. 20.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.14.
In the city the population was spread out with 29.2% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 32.0% from 25 to 44, 20.1% from 45 to 64, and 11.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.9 males.
The median income for city was $47,169, and the median income for a family was $52,233. Males had a median income of $39,162 versus $27,385 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,322. About 3.7% of families and 5.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.1% of those under age 18 and 5.8% of those age 65 or over.
Sports
The New Mexico Scorpions minor-league ice hockey team, currently based in Albuquerque, is scheduled to relocate to Rio Rancho in 2006. The Scorpions will play in the Multipurpose Events Center arena currently under construction as part of Rio Rancho's "City Centre" project.
Media
The Rio Rancho Observer is the local twice-weekly newspaper. Rio Ranchoans also have access to television and radio broadcasts from Albuquerque as well as the daily Albuquerque Journal and Albuquerque Tribune.
Trivia
- Rio Rancho is near Intel's Intel Fab 11X, the largest and most advanced semiconductor plant in the world. The fully-automated, $2 billion facility opened in 2002 and was the first Intel plant to manufacture 300 mm silicon wafers, which can hold almost twice as many chips as the standard 200 mm wafers. Fab 7, Intel's original Rio Rancho plant, closed in 2002 but is being converted into a test facility.
- In 2005, Rio Rancho became the first U.S. city to offer citywide voice-over-WiFi (VoWiFi) service.
External links
"Rio Rancho, New Mexico"