List of counties in New Mexico

Counties of New Mexico
BER CAT CHA CIB COL CUR DEB DOÑ EDD GRA GUA HAR HID LEA LIN LAL LUN MCK MOR OTE QUA RIO ROO SDV SJU SMI SFE SIE SOC TAO TOR UNI VAL
Location	State of New Mexico
Number	33
Populations	740 (Harding) – 670,968 (Bernalillo)
Areas	109 square miles (280 km^2) (Los Alamos) – 6,928 square miles (17,940 km^2) (Catron)
Government	County government
Subdivisions	cities, towns, townships, unincorporated communities, indian reservations, Pueblo, census designated place

This is a list of the 33 counties in New Mexico. There were originally nine counties formed in 1852. Santa Ana County, New Mexico Territory, one of the nine original counties, was annexed in 1876 to Bernalillo County, New Mexico.

The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) code, which is used by the United States government to uniquely identify states and counties, is provided with each entry.^[1] New Mexico's code is 35, which when combined with any county code would be written as 35XXX. The FIPS code for each county links to census data for that county.

List

For comparison, the population estimate for the state of New Mexico as of July 2011 was 2,082,224, and the area was 121,589 mi² (315,194 km²).

County	FIPS Code [2]	County Seat [3]	Created [3]	Formed from [4]	Etymology [5]	Population [6]	Area [3][7]	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	670,968	1,166 mi² (3,020 km²)
Catron County	003	Reserve	1921	Part of Socorro County.	Thomas Benton Catron, a Santa Fe attorney and New Mexico's first U.S. Senator	3,733	6,928 sq mi (17,943 km^2)
Chaves County	005	Roswell	1889	Part of Lincoln County.	Jose Francisco Chaves, a U.S. Army colonel in New Mexico during and after the Civil War	65,890	6,071 sq mi (15,724 km^2)
Cibola County	006	Grants	1981	Parts of Valencia County, Socorro County, McKinley County, and Catron County.	The mythical Seven Cities of Cibola	27,658	4,540 sq mi (11,759 km^2)
Colfax County	007	Raton	1869	Part of Mora County.	Schuyler Colfax, the seventeenth vice president of the United States	13,640	3,757 sq mi (9,731 km^2)
Curry County	009	Clovis	1909	Parts of Quay County and Roosevelt County.	George Curry, a governor of New Mexico Territory from 1907 to 1910	49,649	1,406 sq mi (3,642 km^2)
De Baca County	011	Fort Sumner	1917	Parts of Chaves County and Guadalupe County.	Ezequiel Cabeza de Baca, the second state governor of New Mexico	1,945	2,325 sq mi (6,022 km^2)
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	213,598	3,807 sq mi (9,860 km^2)
Eddy County	015	Carlsbad	1887	Part of Lincoln County.	Charles Eddy, a rancher and developer of the area	54,152	4,182 sq mi (10,831 km^2)
Grant County	017	Silver City	1868	Part of Doña Ana County.	Ulysses Simpson Grant, the Civil War general and eighteenth president of the United States	29,380	3,966 sq mi (10,272 km^2)
Guadalupe County	019	Santa Rosa	1891	Part of San Miguel County.	Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of the Americas	4,619	3,031 sq mi (7,850 km^2)
Harding County	021	Mosquero	1921	Parts of Mora County and Union County.	Warren Gamaliel Harding, the twenty-ninth president of the United States	740	2,126 sq mi (5,506 km^2)
Hidalgo County	023	Lordsburg	1920	Part of Grant County.	Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the priest who is known as the Father of Mexican Independence	4,861	3,446 sq mi (8,925 km^2)
Lea County	025	Lovington	1917	Parts of Chaves County and Eddy County.	Joseph Calloway Lea, a captain in the U.S. Army and the founder of the New Mexico Military Academy	65,423	4,393 sq mi (11,378 km^2)
Lincoln County	027	Carrizozo	1869	Part of Socorro County.	Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States	20,454	4,831 sq mi (12,512 km^2)
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	18,222	109 sq mi (282 km^2)
Luna County	029	Deming	1901	Parts of Doña Ana County and Grant County.	Solomon Luna, the largest land owner in the county at the time of its creation; itself Spanish for moon	25,281	2,965 sq mi (7,679 km^2)
McKinley County	031	Gallup	1899	Part of Bernalillo County.	William McKinley, the twenty-fifth president of the United States	73,664	5,449 sq mi (14,113 km^2)
Mora County	033	Mora	1859	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	4,773	1,931 sq mi (5,001 km^2)
Otero County	035	Alamogordo	1899	Parts of Doña Ana County and Lincoln County.	Miguel A. Otero, territorial delegate to U. S. Congress	65,703	6,627 sq mi (17,164 km^2)
Quay County	037	Tucumcari	1903	Part of Guadalupe County.	Matthew Stanley Quay, a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania who supported New Mexico's statehood	9,026	2,855 sq mi (7,394 km^2)
Rio Arriba County	039	Tierra Amarilla	1852	One of the nine original counties.	Named for its location on the upper Rio Grande (Rio Arriba is "upper river" in Spanish)	40,446	5,858 sq mi (15,172 km^2)
Roosevelt County	041	Portales	1903	Parts of Chaves County and Guadalupe County.	Theodore Roosevelt, the twenty-sixth president of the United States	20,446	2,449 sq mi (6,343 km^2)
Sandoval County	043	Bernalillo	1903	Part of Bernalillo County.	Named for the Sandoval family, prominent seventeenth-century Spanish landowners	134,259	3,710 sq mi (9,609 km^2)
San Juan County	045	Aztec	1887	Part of Rio Arriba County.	San Juan River, itself named after the Catholic saint	128,200	5,514 sq mi (14,281 km^2)
San Miguel County	047	Las Vegas	1852	One of the nine original counties.	San Miguel de Bado Catholic Church, the first in the area	29,301	4,717 sq mi (12,217 km^2)
Santa Fe County	049	Santa Fe	1852	One of the nine original counties.	Spanish term meaning "holy faith," which refers to the spirituality of the founding missionaries	145,648	1,909 sq mi (4,944 km^2)
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.)	11,943	4,180 sq mi (10,826 km^2)
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	17,873	6,647 sq mi (17,216 km^2)
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	32,917	2,203 sq mi (5,706 km^2)
Torrance County	057	Estancia	1903	Parts of Bernalillo County, Valencia County, and Socorro County.	Francis J. Torrance, the developer of the New Mexico Central Railroad	16,345	3,345 sq mi (8,664 km^2)
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	4,433	3,830 sq mi (9,920 km^2)
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	77,070	1,068 sq mi (2,766 km^2)

Former counties

• Mesilla County, appears on 1860s-era territorial map encompassing area in present-day Dona Aña, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, Sierra west of the Rio Grande.
• Santa Ana County (1844–1876) absorbed by Bernalillo County; portions are now in present-day McKinley County

See also

• List of New Mexico county name etymologies

References

1. "FIPS Publish 6-4". National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
2. "EPA County FIPS Code Listing". US Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
3. "NACo - Find a county". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2007-08-07.
4. "NMGenWeb Counties". Rootsweb.com. Archived from the original on 2007-07-02. Retrieved 2007-08-06.
5. Viva New Mexico County Names
6. http://www.census.gov/popest/data/counties/totals/2011/CO-EST2011-01.html
7. "New Mexico QuickFacts". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 2007-08-07. (2000 Census)

External links

• Text description of counties
• Maps of historic New Mexico counties