Rio Rancho (Spanish: Río Rancho) is the largest city and economic hub of Sandoval County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. A small portion of the city extends into northern Bernalillo County. It is the third-largest and fastest-growing city in New Mexico. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 51,765. It has risen to 75,978 as of the 2007 census estimate.

Rio Rancho is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

The Rio Rancho area was originally part of the Alameda 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 Corporation purchased 55,000 acres (220 km²) 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 the Downtown City Centre development that includes a new city hall building and a multipurpose arena, Santa Ana Star Center. The arena opened in October 2006. City Hall opened in September 2007.

Geography

Rio Rancho is located at 35°17'10" North, 106°40'14" West (35.286185, -106.670660). It 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. To the west of the city limit lies an escarpment.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 73.5 square miles (190.4 km²), of which, 73.4 square miles (190.2 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it (0.11%) is water.

Demographics

Census 2000 data

As of the census of 2000, there were 51,765 people, 18,995 households, and 14,113 families residing in the city, although more recent estimates indicate higher numbers. The population density was 272.2/km² (705.0/sq mi). There were 20,209 housing units at an average density of 106.3 persons/km² (275.2 persons/sq mi). The racial makeup of the city was 78.36% White, 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.

2008 estimates

Rio Rancho's and the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area's July 1, 2008 populations were estimated at 79,655 and 845,913, respectively by the United States Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program.

Economy

Intel is by far the largest employer in Rio Rancho. The services, retail, and government sectors are also major components of the local economy.

Rio Rancho is the site of 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 although many of its residents complained that the service did not live up to their expectations.

Several call centers call Rio Rancho home. Walmart opened up in early summer of 2006 in Rio Rancho thus sparking several new commercial retailers to locate nearby.

New construction of large facilities include^:3:

• City Centre Development, including new City Hall and Events Center,
• New 48,000 SF office complex, home to Waste Management’s Regional Offices,
• New 8,000 SF office for Personal Chefs Association,
• Loma Colorado Development,
• Mariposa Home Construction underway,
• V. Sue Cleveland High School site acquired and construction funded for 2009 opening, and
• New UNM West Campus location identified, land acquired and planning underway.
• Hewlett Packard building now under construction. 
• Central New Mexico Community College(CNM)Construction now underway.
• A new 75 acre development on Unser Boulevard in the southwestern part of the city consisting of office and retail space, a hotel, and a movie theater. Construction will consist of three phases between 2010 and 2013.

Sports

Rio Rancho is home to the New Mexico Scorpions minor-league ice hockey team, which relocated from Albuquerque in 2006. The Scorpions play at Santa Ana Star Center.

In the spring of 2008, it became the home of the New Mexico Wildcats indoor football team.

The Blades Multiplex Arena hosts an indoor soccer league.

Rio Rancho is also the home city of New Mexico Strongman, an amateur organization dedicated to promoting and hosting strongman competitions in New Mexico.

Government

City Manager James Palenick controversy

On December 13, 2006 Rio Rancho City Manager James Palenick was fired by the City Council. In September 2007 the New Mexico Attorney General's office issued an opinion that conversations between the mayor and four city councilors before the firing were a violation of the state's Open Meetings Act. Based on this decision Palenick sued the city in January 2008, claiming he was fired illegally and seeking back pay. The city claimed it had cured the violation by voting in open session in November 2007 to fire him. 

Mayor Kevin Jackson controversy

Mayor Kevin Jackson resigned on July 17, 2007 after city councilors censured him, passed a vote of no-confidence, took away his city credit card, and voted to subpoena him to testify about allegations that he had made about $5,300 in questionable purchases on his city credit card. He was also being investigated by the Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety, the New Mexico State Police, a U. S. inspector general, and the New Mexico Auditor's Office. Michael Williams was appointed interim mayor, and on March 4, 2008 Tom Swisstack was elected mayor for the remaining two years of Jackson's term.

Media

The once-weekly Rio Rancho Observer is the local newspaper, while Rio Ranchoans also have access to television and radio broadcasts from Albuquerque as well as the daily newspaper Albuquerque Journal, along with its localized semiweekly version the Rio Rancho Journal."

Rio Rancho is also served by a public access channel, that is only available through the city's only cable television provider Cable ONE. This channel shows all of the government meetings on multiple showings.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Albuquerque's transit department ABQ RIDE operates a bus route connecting Rio Rancho with the New Mexico Rail Runner Express station at Journal Center. There is a proposed regional transportation taxing district.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Rancho,_New_Mexico