What we call New Mexico today was probably first settled by a people we only know as the Clovis culture, named after the site where archeologists first discovered their unique stone tools. Many centuries later but still long before European contact, the region was mostly controlled by the Ancestral Pueblo people, the Hohokam and the Mogollon, whose ancient cliff dwellings still dot the terrain. 

Spain first sent explorers and conquistadors into the region in the 1500s, moving up from their colonies farther south. They named the place “New Mexico,” and formally annexed the region in 1598. However, the local peoples proved difficult to control from so far away, and Spanish control of the region wasn’t really consolidated until the early 1700s. 

Inn1821, Mexico won its independence from Spain, and took New Mexico with it. Texas then split from Mexico in 1836. Texas claimed much of what we now know as New Mexico at the time, but they didn’t actually control the land either. 

The Mexican-American war of 1846-48 established the southern border in the area, and the territories of New Mexico and Texas (to the extent Mexico had any say in the matter) were ceded to the US. The Gadsden purchase of 1853 secured the remainder of what we now think of as New Mexico. 

The first New Mexico land rush began with the discovery of oil in the state in 1928. However, there were no “mobile homes for sale in New Mexico” as we would understand the term now, and there were no modular homes in New Mexico at all. It would be some time before these concepts were really developed. 

With the discovery of oil in the state in 1928 the first real New Mexico land rush began. The extraction and sale of this resource brought in wealth, and land for sale in New Mexico began to be desirable to people “back east.” However, the era of “cheap land in New Mexico” would continue for many decades. 

New Mexico is in the central south-west of the country, bordering the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora to the south, and Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Arizona farther north. Its capital city, Santa Fe, was founded in 1610. That makes it the oldest capital city of any US state – not a bad trick for one of the last few territories to actually become a state. In the 1600s, of course, Santa Fe was a part of Nuevo México, in the colony of New Spain.

New Mexico is the 5th largest US state by area, claiming 121,590 square miles of territory. Its population, though, is only 2,120,220 (as of 2020). Does this low population density mean there are more than a few mobile homes for sale in New Mexico? Yes. Does it mean there is plenty of unspoiled forest, mountain and river plats for modular homes in New Mexico? Yes again. 

New Mexico isn’t all the barren desert the Clint Eastwood movies make it out to be, though. Half of them were filmed in Italy anyway. The real New Mexico sports lush forests, arid deserts, and rugged mountains in equal measure. The fertile Rio Grande valley cuts across the center of the state, giving it some of the nation’s most productive farm land as well.

The federal government owns roughly 1/3 of New Mexico, and manages many monuments, preserves and UNESCO World Heritage sites. 

The state’s school system is known for its dedication to groundbreaking scientific research, a solid technical education, and supplying the experts and technicians the state’s thriving industries need to build a future in this new, greener century. There are plenty of mobile homes for sale in New Mexico around these universities and colleges, and plenty of New Mexico modular homes pop up near them as well. 

A short list of the state’s best colleges and universities might include:

•  Founded in 1889, The University of New Mexico takes in some 16,000 undergraduate students every year. It is  a state school, and charges around $25,000 per year for out-of-state students, State residents pay only a fraction of that. 

• Also founded in 1889, New Mexico Tech is #20 among regional universities (West). It accepts around 1,200 students each year at the undergrad level, and offers similar tuition rates to other state schools. 

• The main campus of New Mexico State University is in Las Cruces, but it has 4 more locations across the state. The Las Cruces campus takes in just under 12,000 students every year, and offers a similar fee schedule to UNM above. 

• The capital city of Santa Fe hosts St. John’s College. St John’s is one of the state’s oldest private colleges, dating from 1696. They are number 96 amongst all the Liberal Arts colleges in the US. St. John’s accepts less than 300 undergraduate students every year. Tuition and fees come in at around $36,000, but with no discount for residency. 

Most of the best college-level schools in NM can be found in and around Albuquerque or Santa Fe. As a result, New Mexico mobile homes and modular homes alike will cost a bit more around cities like Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Are there cheap mobile home parks in Albuquerque, New Mexico? Sure. But be sure you choose one close to the school if that is why you are buying. Crosstown traffic can take longer than you think. 

If there is one thing New Mexico is full of, it is the beautiful, unspoiled countryside. More than 2/3 of the state is privately owned, so if you’ve got your eye on a particular mountainside, a scenic river overview, or a bit of tall pine forest, you can probably put a modular home there without too much wrangling. 

The real question is what kind of New Mexico modular home are you looking to build, and where?