List of counties in New Mexico
County FIPS code County seat Est Formed from Etymology Pop Area
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 679,121 1,166 mi² ( 3,020 km² )
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 3,527 6,928 sq mi ( 17,943 km )
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 64,615 6,071 sq mi ( 15,724 km )
Cibola County 006 Grants 1981 Parts of Valencia County , Socorro County , McKinley County , and Catron County The mythical Seven Cities of Cibola 26,675 4,540 sq mi ( 11,759 km )
Colfax County 007 Raton 1869 Part of Mora County Schuyler Colfax ( 1823-1885 ) , the seventeenth vice president of the United States 11,941 3,757 sq mi ( 9,731 km )
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 48,954 1,406 sq mi ( 3,642 km )
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 1,748 2,325 sq mi ( 6,022 km )
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 218,195 3,807 sq mi ( 9,860 km )
Eddy County 015 Carlsbad 1887 Part of Lincoln County Charles Eddy ( 1857 - 1931 ) , a rancher and developer of the area 58,460 4,182 sq mi ( 10,831 km )
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 26,998 3,966 sq mi ( 10,272 km )
Guadalupe County 019 Santa Rosa 1891 Part of San Miguel County Our Lady of Guadalupe , the patron saint of the Americas 4,300 3,031 sq mi ( 7,850 km )
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 625 2,126 sq mi ( 5,506 km )
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 4,198 3,446 sq mi ( 8,925 km )
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 71,070 4,393 sq mi ( 11,378 km )
Lincoln County 027 Carrizozo 1869 Part of Socorro County Abraham Lincoln ( 1809-1865 ) , the sixteenth president of the United States 19,572 4,831 sq mi ( 12,512 km )
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 19,369 109 sq mi ( 282 km )
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 23,709 2,965 sq mi ( 7,679 km )
McKinley County 031 Gallup 1899 Part of Bernalillo County William McKinley ( 1843-1901 ) , the twenty-fifth president of the United States 71,367 5,449 sq mi ( 14,113 km )
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 4,521 1,931 sq mi ( 5,001 km )
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 67,490 6,627 sq mi ( 17,164 km )
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 ) .
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. 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.