New Mexico map

Where New Mexico is

New Mexico is the nearly square state in the southern Rockies and Chihuahuan Desert, between the 32nd and 37th parallels. It measures about 370 miles north to south and about 340 miles east to west, with a small "bootheel" projecting south in the southwest corner. Clockwise from the north: Colorado along the 37th parallel, Oklahoma (the Panhandle) and Texas along meridians to the east, Texas again along the 32nd parallel and the Rio Grande to the south, Mexico to the south, Arizona along 109°03'W to the west, and Utah at the single point of Four Corners. It is the fifth-largest state by area.

Major cities

Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Santa Fe lie along a 60-mile stretch of the Rio Grande corridor that holds about half of the state's population.

Geography

• Highest point — Wheeler Peak, 13,161 ft, in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Taos, the southern end of the Rocky Mountains.
• Rio Grande — enters from Colorado, cuts the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos, passes Albuquerque and Las Cruces, and becomes the Texas–Mexico border at El Paso. See the Rio Grande map.
• Pecos River — drains the east from the Sangre de Cristos through Roswell and Carlsbad into Texas; the San Juan drains the northwest to the Colorado River.
• Continental Divide — runs the length of the state through the western mountains; see the Continental Divide map.
• Deserts and plains — the Chihuahuan Desert in the south (White Sands, the Tularosa Basin), the Llano Estacado and Great Plains in the east, and the Colorado Plateau in the northwest.
• Lowest point — Red Bluff Reservoir on the Pecos at the Texas line, about 2,842 ft, the highest low point of any state except Colorado and Wyoming.

Borders

Almost every border is a surveyed line. The 37th parallel separates New Mexico from Colorado; 103°W (as surveyed, slightly off) from the Oklahoma Panhandle and Texas; 109°03'W from Arizona; and the 32nd parallel from Texas in the south. The only river border is a short stretch of the Rio Grande below the 32nd parallel to the Mexican line near El Paso. The Mexican border follows the 31°47'N and 31°20'N parallels, with the step between them forming the bootheel, land added by the 1853 Gadsden Purchase.

Regions of New Mexico

Northern New Mexico (Santa Fe, Taos, the Sangre de Cristos), the Central Rio Grande corridor (Albuquerque, Los Alamos), the Four Corners and Navajo Nation in the northwest, Eastern New Mexico on the plains (Clovis, Roswell, Carlsbad), and Southern New Mexico (Las Cruces, the Gila country, Silver City). The Navajo Nation, Apache reservations and 19 Pueblos together cover about 10 percent of the state.

Related maps

• New Mexico county map — all 33 counties with seats.
• Blank New Mexico map — outline for printing.
• Printable New Mexico map.
• Santa Fe — the oldest state capital, founded 1610.
• Neighbors: Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, Utah.
• West, Mountain division, Southwest, Mountain Time Zone.
• Geography: Rio Grande, Four Corners, Rocky Mountains.