List of counties in New Mexico facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Counties of New Mexico |
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|---|---|
| Location | State of New Mexico |
| Number | 33 |
| Populations | 624 (Harding) – 671,586 (Bernalillo) |
| Areas | 109 square miles (280 km2) (Los Alamos) – 6,928 square miles (17,940 km2) (Catron) |
| Government | County government |
| Subdivisions | cities, towns, townships, unincorporated communities, indian reservations, Pueblo, census designated place |
New Mexico is a state in the southwestern United States. Like many other states, it is divided into smaller areas called counties. These counties help organize the state and its local governments. New Mexico has 33 counties in total.
The land that is now New Mexico became a U.S. territory in September 1850. The very first nine counties were created in 1852. These were Bernalillo, Doña Ana, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Santa Ana, Santa Fe, Socorro, Taos, and Valencia Counties.
Over the years, more counties were added or changed. For example, after the Gadsden Purchase in 1853–1854, some land was given to the new Colorado Territory. Later, in 1863, the western part became the Arizona Territory. These changes helped set New Mexico's current borders.
More counties like Grant, Colfax, and Lincoln were created in the 1860s. Santa Ana County was later joined with Bernalillo County in 1876. By 1909, New Mexico had 26 counties. New Mexico officially became the 47th state on January 6, 1912. After this, seven more counties were created, with Cibola County being the last in 1981. This brought the total to 33 counties.
New Mexico's Counties: A Full List
New Mexico is a large state. In July 2011, about 2,082,224 people lived there. The state covers about 121,589 square miles (315,194 square kilometers). Below is a list of all 33 counties in New Mexico. You can see their county seat (the main town), when they were created, where their name came from, and how many people live there.
| County | County seat |
Est. |
Formed from |
Etymology |
Pop. |
Area |
Map | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bernalillo County | 001 | Albuquerque | 1852 | One of the nine original counties. | The Gonzales-Bernal family, Spanish nobles who settled the territory in the seventeenth century | 671,586 | 1,166 sq mi (3,020 km2) |
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| Catron County | 003 | Reserve | 1921 | Part of Socorro County. | Thomas Benton Catron (1840-1921), a Santa Fe attorney and New Mexico's first U.S. Senator | 3,825 | 6,928 sq mi (17,943 km2) |
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| Chaves County | 005 | Roswell | 1889 | Part of Lincoln County. | Jose Francisco Chaves (1833-1904), a U.S. Army colonel in New Mexico during and after the Civil War | 63,561 | 6,071 sq mi (15,724 km2) |
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| Cibola County | 006 | Grants | 1981 | Parts of Valencia County, Socorro County, McKinley County, and Catron County. | The mythical Seven Cities of Cibola | 26,780 | 4,540 sq mi (11,759 km2) |
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| Colfax County | 007 | Raton | 1869 | Part of Mora County. | Schuyler Colfax (1823-1885), the seventeenth vice president of the United States | 12,255 | 3,757 sq mi (9,731 km2) |
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| Curry County | 009 | Clovis | 1909 | Parts of Quay County and Roosevelt County. | George Curry (1861-1947), a governor of New Mexico Territory from 1907 to 1910 | 47,222 | 1,406 sq mi (3,642 km2) |
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| De Baca County | 011 | Fort Sumner | 1917 | Parts of Chaves County and Guadalupe County. | Ezequiel Cabeza de Baca (1864-1917), the second state governor of New Mexico | 1,657 | 2,325 sq mi (6,022 km2) |
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| Doña Ana County | 013 | Las Cruces | 1852 | One of the nine original counties. | Doña Ana Robledo, a seventeenth-century Spanish woman known for her charitable giving to the native population | 225,210 | 3,807 sq mi (9,860 km2) |
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| Eddy County | 015 | Carlsbad | 1887 | Part of Lincoln County. | Charles Eddy (1857 - 1931), a rancher and developer of the area | 60,275 | 4,182 sq mi (10,831 km2) |
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| Grant County | 017 | Silver City | 1868 | Part of Doña Ana County. | Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822-1885), the Civil War general and eighteenth president of the United States | 27,472 | 3,966 sq mi (10,272 km2) |
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| Guadalupe County | 019 | Santa Rosa | 1891 | Part of San Miguel County. | Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of the Americas | 4,292 | 3,031 sq mi (7,850 km2) |
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| Harding County | 021 | Mosquero | 1921 | Parts of Mora County and Union County. | Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-1923), the twenty-ninth president of the United States | 624 | 2,126 sq mi (5,506 km2) |
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| Hidalgo County | 023 | Lordsburg | 1920 | Part of Grant County. | The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, named after a Mexican town in turn named for Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753 - 1811), the priest who is known as the Father of Mexican Independence | 3,965 | 3,446 sq mi (8,925 km2) |
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| Lea County | 025 | Lovington | 1917 | Parts of Chaves County and Eddy County. | Joseph Calloway Lea (1841-1904), a captain in the U.S. Army and the founder of the New Mexico Military Academy | 72,101 | 4,393 sq mi (11,378 km2) |
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| Lincoln County | 027 | Carrizozo | 1869 | Part of Socorro County. | Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), the sixteenth president of the United States | 20,029 | 4,831 sq mi (12,512 km2) |
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| Los Alamos County | 028 | Los Alamos | 1949 | Parts of Sandoval County and Santa Fe County. | Named for its county seat of Los Alamos, New Mexico, which itself is the Spanish name for the cottonwood tree | 19,444 | 109 sq mi (282 km2) |
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| Luna County | 029 | Deming | 1901 | Parts of Doña Ana County and Grant County. | Solomon Luna (1858 - 1912), the largest land owner in the county at the time of its creation; itself Spanish for moon | 25,316 | 2,965 sq mi (7,679 km2) |
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| McKinley County | 031 | Gallup | 1899 | Part of Bernalillo County. | William McKinley (1843-1901), the twenty-fifth president of the United States | 68,797 | 5,449 sq mi (14,113 km2) |
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| Mora County | 033 | Mora | 1860 | Part of Taos County. | Named for its county seat of Mora, New Mexico, which is itself named after lo de mora, the Spanish term for blackberry | 4,123 | 1,931 sq mi (5,001 km2) |
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| Otero County | 035 | Alamogordo | 1899 | Parts of Doña Ana County and Lincoln County. | Miguel A. Otero (1829-1882), territorial delegate to U. S. Congress or Miguel Antonio Otero (II) (1859-1944), 16th Governor of New Mexico Territory from 1897 to 1906 | 68,835 | 6,627 sq mi (17,164 km2) |
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| Quay County | 037 | Tucumcari | 1903 | Part of Guadalupe County. | Matthew Stanley Quay (1833-1904), a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania who supported New Mexico's statehood | 8,510 | 2,855 sq mi (7,394 km2) |
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| Rio Arriba County | 039 | Tierra Amarilla | 1852 | One of the nine original counties. | Named for its location on the upper Rio Grande (Río Arriba means "upstream" or "up the river" in Spanish) | 39,876 | 5,858 sq mi (15,172 km2) |
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| Roosevelt County | 041 | Portales | 1903 | Parts of Chaves County and Guadalupe County. | Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), the twenty-sixth president of the United States | 18,787 | 2,449 sq mi (6,343 km2) |
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| Sandoval County | 043 | Bernalillo | 1903 | Part of Bernalillo County. | Named for the Sandoval family, prominent seventeenth-century Spanish landowners | 155,936 | 3,710 sq mi (9,609 km2) |
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| San Juan County | 045 | Aztec | 1887 | Part of Rio Arriba County. | San Juan River, itself named after the Catholic saint | 120,675 | 5,514 sq mi (14,281 km2) |
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| San Miguel County | 047 | Las Vegas | 1852 | One of the nine original counties. | San Miguel de Bado Catholic Church, the first in the area | 26,668 | 4,717 sq mi (12,217 km2) |
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| Santa Fe County | 049 | Santa Fe | 1852 | One of the nine original counties. | Named after the city of Santa Fe whose full Spanish name is “La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Assisi” or “The royal city of the holy faith of St. Francis of Assisi” | 155,956 | 1,909 sq mi (4,944 km2) |
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| Sierra County | 051 | Truth or Consequences | 1884 | Parts of Doña Ana County and Socorro County. | Possibly named for the Black Range. (Sierra is mountain range in Spanish.) | 11,488 | 4,180 sq mi (10,826 km2) |
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| Socorro County | 053 | Socorro | 1852 | One of the nine original counties. | Spanish term meaning "aid," which refers to the help Native Americans gave to starving travelers | 15,963 | 6,647 sq mi (17,216 km2) |
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| Taos County | 055 | Taos | 1852 | One of the nine original counties. | Named for its county seat of Taos, New Mexico, which in turn was named for the nearby Taos Pueblo, an ancient Native American village. Taos is red willow in the Tiwa language | 34,405 | 2,203 sq mi (5,706 km2) |
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| Torrance County | 057 | Estancia | 1903 | Parts of Bernalillo County, Valencia County, and Socorro County. | Francis J. Torrance (1859 - 1919), the developer of the New Mexico Central Railroad | 15,633 | 3,345 sq mi (8,664 km2) |
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| Union County | 059 | Clayton | 1893 | Parts of Colfax County, Mora County and San Miguel County. | Named for the "union" of the three counties which donated land to form the new county | 3,964 | 3,830 sq mi (9,920 km2) |
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| Valencia County | 061 | Los Lunas | 1852 | One of the nine original counties. | Named for the town of Valencia, New Mexico, which is itself named for Valencia, Spain | 79,141 | 1,068 sq mi (2,766 km2) |
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Counties That No Longer Exist
Over time, some counties in New Mexico were changed or absorbed into others. Here are a few examples of counties that were once part of the New Mexico Territory but are no longer separate counties today:
- Arizona County: This county was mentioned in the 1860 U.S. Census.
- Mesilla County: This county appeared on maps from the 1860s. It covered parts of what are now Doña Ana, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, and Sierra counties.
- Santa Ana County: This county existed from 1844 to 1876. It was later absorbed by Bernalillo County. Parts of it are now in McKinley County.
- Santa Fe County, Texas: This was a large area that Texas claimed before 1850. It was never fully organized as a county. It included parts of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming.
See also
In Spanish: Anexo:Condados de Nuevo México para niños
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List of counties in New Mexico Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.