ZIP code profile · 2024 county data

ZIP Code 88203

Chaves County, New Mexico: Census demographics for this ZIP plus the containing county's FBI UCR crime rate.

Data updated 2026-08-24

206
Property rate /100K (county)
29,499
Population (ZIP)
115
Violent rate /100K (county)

Is ZIP code 88203 safe? Honest data snapshot

ZIP code 88203 sits within Chaves County, NM, a county whose reported crime runs below the national average (see the county-level FBI figures below, not a ZIP-specific calculation).

Reported crime here runs well below the national average: 115 violent incidents and 206 property incidents per 100,000 residents in 2024, per county-level agency submissions.

ZIP 88203 is the largest ZIP in Chaves County by population, 29,499 residents (#1 of 7 county ZIPs), across 1,092.98 square miles (27/sq mi). For a full breakdown of Chaves County's crime categories and year-over-year trend, see the Chaves County crime page linked below.

ZIP 88203 has no FBI-native crime rate (postal codes are not police jurisdictions). The property-led county proxy above is from Chaves County agency submissions; see methodology for the ZCTA plurality map. Methodology.

ZIP 88203 Census context

These are ZIP/ZCTA demographic estimates, separate from the county-level FBI proxy above. They describe the local settlement, not a crime rate.

Median household income
$42,500
Median age
35.9 years
Owner-occupied homes
64%
Occupied homes
10,700

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 5-year ZCTA estimates (income, age, and occupied housing tenure).

How useful is the county proxy for ZIP 88203?

Within the participating-agency records for Chaves County, reported violent and property crime rates both sit below their U.S. benchmarks: violent crime is 67% below and property crime is 88% below. The two submitted measures point in the same direction, but they do not establish complete county coverage or turn the result into a ZIP-level rating for 88203. Both comparisons use the same 2024 county reporting population and FBI-submitted counts, so the two directions are internally comparable for this release, not evidence about a different year.

Within the county, 88203 is one of the most populous ZIPs (#1 of 7). Its 29,499 residents therefore represent a comparatively large share of the local population, but the county total still combines reports from places outside this ZIP.

Chaves County UCR book ZIP 88203 inherits

ZIP 88203 itself is about 27 people per Census sq mi across 1,093 sq mi (29,499 residents), a postal settlement fact independent of the county UCR proxy.

ZIP 88203's 29,499 residents are about 45.3% of the 2024 county reporting population (65,157), a large postal share of a county-wide rate.

Chaves County leans on larceny-theft at 34% of reported offenses (mix index 2,706). ZIP 88203 has no separate FBI offense book.

Chaves County 2024 vs 2023: violent counts -7% vs 2023; property counts -14% vs 2023. Year-over-year moves are county agency submissions, still not ZIP-native.

Chaves County offense mix (2024)

Mix index is HHI × 10,000 on county offense-type shares. Distinct from the per-100K rates in the hero; still county-agency data, not a ZIP-native FBI table.

Nationwide peers for ZIP 88203

Similar county violent rate (~115/100K)

Similar Census population (~29,499)

County detail: Chaves County · State atlas: New Mexico

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ZIP population, land area, 2020 ZCTA-to-county relationship file, ACS 5-year estimates) and FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Crime in the United States (CIUS) Table 10 (county-level crime, attributed via ZIP-to-county crosswalk).

Verify with Census.gov Geography and FBI.gov UCR.

Read our methodology , how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Every figure on PlainCrime is rendered directly from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page combines Census ZIP-level figures with a ZIP-to-county crosswalk to attribute FBI UCR crime data honestly, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.