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Capital of New Mexico · Santa Fe County · capital since 1610 · 35.7°N 105.9°W

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe was founded by the Spanish in 1610 and is the oldest capital city in the United States and, at about 7,000 ft, the highest. Albuquerque, 60 miles southwest, is the largest city in New Mexico.

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Santa Fe is in north-central New Mexico, at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Press Streets and zoom in to see the irregular street pattern of the old Spanish town around the Plaza.

Where Santa Fe is

Santa Fe is the seat of Santa Fe County, at 35.69°N, 105.94°W, in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southernmost range of the Rocky Mountains. At about 7,000 ft it is the highest state capital. The Santa Fe River, a small stream that is dry for much of the year, runs through the center of town to the Rio Grande, about 20 miles west. The peaks east of the city rise above 12,000 ft. Santa Fe is on Mountain Time.

How it became the capital

Governor Pedro de Peralta founded La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís in 1610 as the capital of the Spanish province of Nuevo México, making it older than any other capital in the country and a decade older than Plymouth. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 drove the Spanish out for twelve years. The town passed to Mexico in 1821, when the Santa Fe Trail from Missouri opened, and to the United States in 1846. It remained the capital of New Mexico Territory and of the state after admission on January 6, 1912.

Population

Santa Fe had 87,505 residents in 2020, the fourth-largest city in New Mexico. Albuquerque, the largest, had 564,559, and Las Cruces and Rio Rancho are also larger. The Santa Fe metropolitan area is coextensive with the county and has about 155,000 people, compared with the state's 2,117,522.

The capitol

The Palace of the Governors on the Plaza, built in 1610, served as the seat of government under Spain, Mexico and the United States and is the oldest continuously occupied public building in the country. The current New Mexico State Capitol, known as the Roundhouse, was designed by W. C. Kruger and completed in 1966. It is the only round state capitol; seen from above it forms the Zia sun symbol that appears on the state flag. It has no dome and stands only four stories high.

Distances to other cities

CityDirectionRoad distance
Albuquerque, NMsouthwestabout 60 mi
Denver, COnorthabout 390 mi
El Paso, TXsouthabout 330 mi

Taos is about 70 miles north. The Four Corners monument is about 200 miles to the northwest.

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