San Juan County, New Mexico
San Juan County is a county located in the northwestern corner of New Mexico, bordering the states of Arizona to the south, Colorado to the north, and Utah to the north and west, encompassing part of the Four Corners region where these four states meet.[1] Established in 1887, it has a total area of 5,538 square miles, including 5,513 square miles of land and 25 square miles of water, characterized by diverse terrain featuring rivers such as the San Juan, Animas, and La Plata, red sandstone mesas, buttes, and volcanic formations like Shiprock.[2][3] The county seat is Aztec, though Farmington serves as the largest city and primary economic center.[2] As of the 2020 United States census, San Juan County had a population of 121,661, ranking it as the fifth-most populous county in New Mexico, with a significant portion residing on or near Navajo Nation lands, contributing to a demographic where approximately 39% identify as Native American.[4] The local economy relies heavily on energy production, including oil and natural gas extraction, alongside sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, and outdoor recreation, though it faces challenges including a median household income of around $53,000 and a poverty rate exceeding 23%.[5][6] The county's resources and location have historically supported agriculture via irrigation from its rivers and more recently positioned it as a hub for fossil fuel activities amid broader regional debates on energy policy and environmental impacts.[7][8]History
Indigenous Peoples and Prehistory
Archaeological evidence indicates human presence in the San Juan Basin, encompassing much of present-day San Juan County, as early as the Paleoindian period circa 11,000–9,000 BCE, with Clovis fluted points recovered from basin sites reflecting big-game hunting adaptations to post-glacial environments.[9] Subsequent Archaic period (ca. 8,000–500 BCE) foragers exploited diverse resources, transitioning to semi-sedentary lifeways during the Basketmaker II–III phases (ca. 500 BCE–750 CE), marked by pit houses, early maize cultivation, and basketry technologies.[9] The Ancestral Puebloans dominated the region's prehistory from the Pueblo I period onward (ca. 750–1150 CE), constructing enduring villages amid the arid landscape through dryland farming of maize, beans, and squash supplemented by irrigation canals, as evidenced by pollen cores and macro-botanical remains from site excavations.[10] The area's integration into the Chacoan interaction sphere (ca. 850–1150 CE) is apparent in "great houses"—multi-story masonry complexes with aligned astronomical features and extensive road networks facilitating turquoise and macaw feather trade from Mesoamerica, per artifact sourcing studies.[11] Salmon Ruins, initiated around 1090 CE near Bloomfield, exemplifies this with its 275-room tri-walled structure and great kiva, occupied until circa 1280 CE and yielding imports like scarlet macaw remains indicating long-distance exchange.[12] Aztec Ruins, established circa 1110 CE east of Farmington, features a comparable 450-room West Ruin with reconstructed kivas, reflecting ceremonial functions and population aggregation before abandonment around 1275 CE.[13] Puebloan depopulation by 1300 CE, corroborated by dendrochronological data showing severe droughts from 1276–1299 CE, shifted the cultural landscape.[14] Athabaskan-speaking Navajo ancestors migrated southward into the Dinetah district of San Juan County by the late 1400s–early 1500s CE, establishing proto-Navajo sites with forked-stick hogans, slab-lined cists, and Athapaskan pottery, adapting semi-nomadic foraging and incipient farming to the basin's ecology prior to European contact.[15] Concurrently, Ute groups, Numic-speaking hunter-gatherers from the Great Basin, ranged into northwest New Mexico as mobile bands pursuing deer, bison, and piñon resources, leaving petroglyphs and lithic scatters but minimal permanent structures.[16] These groups' pastoral and raiding economies prefigured later dynamics, grounded in empirical site distributions rather than oral traditions alone.[9]Spanish and Mexican Eras
The expedition of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado in 1540–1542 traversed portions of present-day New Mexico in search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cíbola, passing through Zuni pueblos to the southwest of the San Juan region but establishing no permanent settlements or missions in the remote northwestern area.[17] Similarly, Juan de Oñate's 1598 entrada founded the first enduring Spanish colony at San Juan de los Caballeros along the upper Rio Grande, approximately 150 miles southeast of modern San Juan County, prioritizing conversion of Pueblo communities and extraction of resources from central settlements rather than the isolated northwest, where ranchos and outposts remained minimal due to harsh terrain and distance from supply lines.[18] Spanish influence in the region thus manifested primarily through intermittent trade and reconnaissance, with no sustained colonization efforts until later centuries. Relations between Spaniards and the Navajo people, who inhabited much of the San Juan area, were marked by recurrent conflict, including Navajo raids on Spanish livestock herds and isolated settlements for captives and goods, which persisted from the late 16th century onward as a core element of Navajo pastoral economy and resistance to encroachment.[19] Spanish responses involved punitive campaigns, such as those in the 17th and 18th centuries aimed at curbing slave raiding and fostering separation of Navajos from allied Gilenos (Apache groups), though these yielded limited territorial control and occasionally pragmatic alliances, as Navajo warriors joined Spanish forces against mutual threats like Utes or other Apaches in expeditions into adjacent territories.[20] By the 18th century, the northwest's aridity, elevation, and Navajo dominance rendered it a frontier periphery, with Spanish governance confined to nominal oversight from Santa Fe and economy reliant on sporadic herding rather than dense agricultural or missionary outposts. Mexican independence in 1821 dissolved formal Spanish missions and secularized communal lands, theoretically opening the region to private grants, but geographic isolation—exacerbated by the lack of viable roads beyond the Rio Grande corridor—and intensified Navajo raiding in the 1820s and 1830s deterred settlement, leaving the San Juan area under loose provincial administration with few Hispanic inhabitants engaged in subsistence herding or trade.[19] Mexican authorities conducted sporadic campaigns against Navajo groups, yet resource constraints and internal instability limited efficacy, preserving the region's status as an underpopulated buffer zone dominated by indigenous mobility and autonomy until mid-century transitions.American Period and County Formation
The region encompassing present-day San Juan County was ceded to the United States by Mexico under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848, which ended the Mexican-American War and incorporated the New Mexico Territory, including the northern areas along the San Juan River, into U.S. jurisdiction.[21] The Gadsden Purchase of 1853-1854 further clarified southern boundaries but had limited direct impact on the northern San Juan Basin, as the area's incorporation stemmed primarily from the 1848 treaty.[22] U.S. military efforts focused on securing control amid ongoing threats from Navajo and Apache groups, with the establishment of Fort Wingate in 1860 (initially as Fort Fauntleroy) near present-day Grants, New Mexico, to protect settlers and supply lines while subduing Native resistance in the region.[23] The Navajo Wars, spanning 1849 to 1868, involved repeated U.S. Army campaigns against Navajo raids on settlements and livestock, culminating in Colonel Kit Carson's scorched-earth operations in 1863-1864 that forced the surrender of thousands. This led to the Long Walk of 1864, a coerced relocation of approximately 8,000 to 10,000 Navajo people over 250-450 miles to Bosque Redondo internment camp near Fort Sumner, New Mexico, resulting in significant mortality from disease, starvation, and exposure during the marches and confinement.[24] The policy aimed to pacify the territory for American expansion but ended with the Treaty of Bosque Redondo in 1868, allowing Navajo return to a reduced reservation north of the San Juan County area.[25] San Juan County was formally created on February 24, 1887, carved from the western portion of Rio Arriba County within the New Mexico Territory, and named for the San Juan River that traverses its landscape.[26] Aztec was designated the county seat in 1892, reflecting early Anglo-American settlement patterns driven by the arrival of pioneers after 1879.[27] Initial economic activities centered on ranching for cattle and sheep, supplemented by small-scale placer mining and horticulture, including fruit orchards enabled by river irrigation, though large-scale resource extraction remained limited until later decades.[28] These developments marked the transition to organized civil administration amid persistent frontier security challenges.20th Century Economic Development
The economy of San Juan County shifted from primarily agrarian activities in the early 20th century to resource extraction following the discovery of oil and natural gas in the [San Juan Basin](/page/San Juan Basin). The first documented oil find occurred in 1911 on the Chaco Slope, though initial production was limited to small volumes from shallow wells. Commercial natural gas production began in 1921, with significant expansions in the 1920s, including oil at Table Mesa in 1925 and gas at Blanco in 1926, attracting investment and spurring drilling booms. By the 1950s, the basin had emerged as a major hydrocarbon province, with fields like Hogback and Ute Dome contributing to cumulative production exceeding millions of barrels of oil equivalent, driving infrastructure development such as pipelines and roads to support extraction and transport.[29][30][31] Uranium mining further accelerated industrialization during World War II and the Cold War, as federal demand for nuclear materials prompted exploration in northwestern New Mexico's sandstone deposits. Operations in San Juan County, part of the broader "Nuclear West" resource base, involved open-pit and underground extraction tied to government contracts, with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission as the sole buyer until 1971. This sector drew a rapid influx of workers, contributing to population growth from 18,292 in 1950 to over 50,000 by 1960, alongside investments in housing, schools, and utilities to accommodate the boom.[32][33][34] Coal mining expanded in the 1960s, exemplified by the Navajo Mine, which received its lease in 1957 and commenced large-scale operations in 1963 to supply steam-electric plants. The Four Corners Generating Station, with initial units constructed between 1963 and 1964 near Fruitland, relied on this coal, generating thousands of direct and indirect jobs in mining, rail transport, and power generation. These developments were closely linked to federal energy policies promoting domestic fossil fuels for national security and electricity needs, transforming the county into an industrial hub.[35][36] Energy revenues from oil, gas, uranium, and coal funded local government operations, including public services and infrastructure, with royalties and taxes providing a fiscal base that supported county budgets amid sparse non-extractive alternatives. However, the reliance on volatile commodity prices engendered boom-bust cycles, where rapid influxes during high-demand periods contrasted with downturns from market fluctuations or policy shifts, leading to employment instability and strained public finances without diversified buffers.[34][37]Recent History and Transitions
The closure of the San Juan Generating Station in 2022, driven by New Mexico's Energy Transition Act and federal environmental regulations, marked a pivotal shift in the county's energy landscape, resulting in the loss of hundreds of direct jobs at the plant and associated coal mine, alongside reduced property tax revenues that previously supported local schools and services.[38][39][40] This transition displaced approximately 1,500 workers region-wide, prompting state interventions including over $7 million in direct payments—such as 350 one-time $20,000 grants processed by mid-2023—and the establishment of the Displaced Worker Assistance Fund at San Juan College to cover training costs for affected individuals.[41][42][43] In response, county efforts emphasized workforce retraining and economic diversification toward oil and natural gas sectors within the San Juan Basin, where production has sustained activity amid broader fossil fuel declines; for instance, a 13-mile natural gas pipeline extension to the San Juan County Industrial Park was approved in 2025 to support manufacturing and petrochemical development.[44][45][46] The New Mexico Economic Transition Program has facilitated outreach and employment services for coal-impacted workers, aiming to align skills with expanding energy and industrial opportunities, though debates persist over replacing lost coal capacity with renewables like solar or hybrid gas-solar projects versus maintaining fossil fuel reliance.[47][38] These changes have contributed to population stagnation, with San Juan County's residents declining from 129,143 in 2014 to 120,817 by 2024—a 6.82% drop over the decade—driven by net outmigration rates averaging over 1,000 annually in recent five-year estimates, amid economic uncertainty from energy sector volatility.[48][49] Local elections in 2024, including contested county commission races, underscored community priorities for job retention and industrial growth, with turnout exceeding 10,000 in primaries and results favoring candidates supportive of fossil fuel infrastructure over accelerated green transitions imposed at the state level.[50][51]Geography
Location and Boundaries
San Juan County lies in the northwestern corner of New Mexico, forming part of the Four Corners region where the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah meet. It shares a northern border with Colorado, a western border with Arizona, and touches Utah at its northwestern tip.[52][53] The county spans a total area of 5,538 square miles, including 5,513 square miles of land and 25 square miles of water. Approximately 64.8% of this area consists of tribal lands, with 61.9% belonging to the Navajo Nation and 2.9% to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe; overall, 94% of the land is held by tribal, federal, state, or local governments, leaving only 6% in private ownership.[2] The Four Corners Monument, situated at coordinates 36.9989°N, 109.0452°W within San Juan County on Navajo Nation land, delineates the precise quadripoint of the four states and attracts visitors for its unique geographic and cultural significance, facilitating cross-state tourism and trade.[53]Topography and Natural Features
San Juan County occupies the southeastern portion of the San Juan Basin, a large structural depression within the Colorado Plateau spanning approximately 7,500 square miles across New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah, with sedimentary strata from Triassic through Tertiary periods forming the subsurface framework that hosts extensive hydrocarbon and coal resources.[54] The county's topography includes broad, flat to undulating basin floors at elevations around 5,000 to 6,000 feet, rising to mesa highlands and dissected plateaus capped by resistant sandstone layers, which support sparse piñon-juniper woodlands and influence localized erosion patterns and resource extraction sites for oil, gas, and coal primarily from Upper Cretaceous formations like the Fruitland coal beds.[55] Volcanic features, such as the 1,583-foot-high Shiprock monadnock—a neck of intrusive igneous rock—punctuate the landscape, exemplifying Miocene volcanic activity that contributed to the basin's structural complexity and mineral distribution.[3] The San Juan River, a major tributary of the Colorado River, flows southwest through the county for about 100 miles, incising canyons into Mesozoic sandstones and shales while depositing alluvial soils that enable limited irrigated agriculture along narrow floodplains and tributaries like the Animas River, whose confluence occurs near Farmington.[56] These fluvial systems shape ecological niches, concentrating riparian vegetation such as cottonwoods and willows that sustain wildlife corridors amid the otherwise arid terrain, and facilitate groundwater recharge critical for basin hydrology and fossil fuel reservoir pressures.[57] Navajo Lake, impounded by the 3,800-foot-long Navajo Dam constructed between 1958 and 1962 on the San Juan River, covers 15,600 acres at full capacity and functions as a key reservoir modulating seasonal flows for downstream agriculture and ecosystems while submerging former mesa and canyon features to create artificial shorelines that enhance recreational access to the plateau's geologic exposures.[58] In protected areas like Chaco Culture National Historical Park, the topography manifests as a semi-arid steppe with prominent sandstone mesas rising 300 to 500 feet above valley floors, side canyons, and stable pediments that preserve paleoenvironmental records of ancient fluvial and lacustrine deposits, underscoring the basin's role in concentrating prehistoric human settlement due to reliable water and arable soils.[59]Climate and Environmental Conditions
San Juan County features a semi-arid high desert climate characterized by low annual precipitation averaging 8 to 10 inches, primarily from summer monsoons and winter storms.[60][61] Average temperatures range from lows near 32°F in January to highs around 84°F in July, with significant diurnal variation due to elevation between 5,000 and 7,000 feet.[60] This aridity supports sparse vegetation dominated by sagebrush, juniper, and pinyon pine, while exposing the region to prolonged droughts that have recurred historically, as evidenced by paleoclimate reconstructions from tree rings showing multi-decadal dry periods predating industrial activity.[62] Natural hazards include frequent flash floods from intense convective storms over dry soils, capable of rapidly filling arroyos and causing infrastructure damage, as seen in events like the October 2025 flooding in the county.[63] Wildfires are common during dry seasons, exacerbated by fuels from pinyon-juniper woodlands and grasslands, with post-fire debris flows posing secondary risks; county hazard assessments identify wildfire and associated flooding as priority threats.[64] Dust storms arise from wind erosion of bare soils, contributing to visibility reductions and particulate matter spikes, though these reflect inherent arid dynamics rather than solely anthropogenic factors.[65] Environmental conditions demonstrate pronounced natural variability, with instrumental records since the late 19th century revealing cycles of wetter and drier phases independent of modern emissions, underscoring baseline aridity over narratives emphasizing recent pollution-driven change.[62] Resource extraction in the San Juan Basin, including oil, gas, and former coal operations, has produced localized air quality impacts such as elevated ozone and methane concentrations, yet these remain negligible in global atmospheric contexts given the scale of county outputs relative to worldwide totals.[66] Empirical monitoring prioritizes such site-specific effects, like particulate emissions from operations, without attributing broader climate patterns to regional industry.[37]Economy
Energy Sector Dominance
The San Juan Basin, encompassing much of San Juan County, ranks as one of the United States' oldest and most productive hydrocarbon regions, with natural gas extraction forming the backbone of local energy output; the basin supplied 67% of New Mexico's natural gas production in recent years.[67] Cumulative gas production through the late 2000s exceeded 42 trillion cubic feet, driven by conventional reservoirs and later coalbed methane developments starting in the 1990s.[68] Coal mining provided a foundational legacy, with over 100 years of activity in the basin; key operations included the San Juan Mine, which began surface mining in 1973 to fuel the San Juan Generating Station's four units, producing millions of tons annually until the plant's full decommissioning on June 30, 2022.[69][70] Hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling since the 2010s have catalyzed oil production resurgence, notably in the Mancos Shale and Gallup formations, where new wells post-2012 have boosted annual oil output in the New Mexico portion of the basin through enhanced recovery from tight reservoirs.[71][72] Energy activities yield critical revenues via severance taxes, ad valorem production taxes, and property assessments on wells and facilities, which support a substantial share of county operations including roads and emergency services; these streams peaked during high-production periods, underscoring fossil fuels' fiscal centrality.[73] Boom cycles have driven employment in mining, quarrying, and oil/gas extraction to approximately 10% of the county's workforce in the 2010s, offering above-average wages that sustained local livelihoods amid volatile markets.[74] Idle and orphaned wells, numbering in the thousands across the basin, pose leakage and contamination risks, yet state-managed reclamation—funded by operator fees totaling $60 million in dedicated reserves—has prioritized plugging over federal approaches often stalled by regulatory hurdles.[75][76]Other Industries and Employment
Agriculture in San Juan County centers on ranching, with significant operations in cattle, sheep, and goat farming, supported by the county's status as home to New Mexico's largest number of farms and second-highest farm acreage statewide. Crop production, including hay and alfalfa, remains constrained by chronic water shortages and drought conditions, which limit irrigation-dependent activities and prompt periodic restrictions, as seen in preparations by the Farmers Irrigation District in March 2025.[77][78][79] Tourism contributes through attractions such as Aztec Ruins National Monument and Salmon Ruins, featuring preserved Chacoan-era structures, alongside outdoor recreation like trout fishing on the San Juan River and Navajo Lake, boating, and hiking in areas including the Bisti Badlands. These draw visitors seeking cultural and natural experiences near the Four Corners region, bolstering local services without dominating the economy.[80][81][82] Farmington functions as the primary hub for retail trade and professional services, employing residents in sales, merchandising, and customer-facing roles amid a landscape of chain stores and local outlets. Efforts to diversify include workforce training programs, such as San Juan College's HB2-GROWTH initiative launched in December 2024, which funds fast-track certifications in manufacturing, healthcare, and skilled trades to adapt to shifting demands.[83][84] Employment trends reflect cycles influenced by broader economic shifts, with the county's unemployment rate averaging 4.7% in 2024—down from 8.6% in 2021—and stabilizing around 4.2% to 5.1% in late 2024 and early 2025 through private sector expansions in non-extractive fields. This moderation stems from targeted retraining and adaptation, as evidenced by San Juan County's largest unemployment decline in New Mexico from 2019 to 2024.[85][86][87]Economic Challenges and Policy Impacts
San Juan County faces a poverty rate of 23.2% as measured in 2023, exceeding the national average and correlating with elevated unemployment and low median household incomes around $53,000.[6] [88] These socioeconomic pressures are particularly acute in Native American communities, where federal transfer payments and resource leasing arrangements foster dependency rather than fostering independent economic initiatives; Navajo Nation analyses attribute disparities to historical federal policies that eroded self-governance capacities and localized decision-making, limiting business formation and skill development over industrial extraction alone.[89] [90] Tribal administrative hurdles, including fragmented land tenure and regulatory overlaps with federal agencies, further impede private investment and job-creating ventures, perpetuating cycles of reliance on government allocations amid untapped potential in local resources. Federal environmental policies, especially those from the EPA, have intensified boom-bust volatility in the county's dominant energy sector by imposing compliance costs and operational restrictions that accelerate facility closures without viable transitional employment pathways. The 2022 shutdown of the San Juan Generating Station, driven by a utility settlement amid tightening emissions and coal ash rules, eliminated 1,586 direct and indirect jobs while slashing annual tax revenues by $53 million, including $20.8 million in state collections and $24 million locally, with minimal offsetting gains from promised renewables. [91] Such regulatory interventions, often justified by projected air and water risks, overlook the sector's prior adherence to permitting standards and contribute to underinvestment in self-sustaining alternatives like modular manufacturing or expanded natural gas infrastructure. The energy industry's policy trade-offs highlight benefits in bolstering U.S. energy security through reliable baseload power at competitive costs—San Juan's output historically supported regional grids with minimal disruptions—against asserted ecological drawbacks that empirical monitoring data indicate were managed within regulatory limits prior to divestment.[39] Overemphasis on precautionary closures risks entrenching poverty by eroding fiscal bases for infrastructure and education, whereas easing permitting could enable diversified extraction models that align environmental stewardship with economic autonomy, as evidenced by compliant historical operations yielding net positives in employment multipliers absent abrupt policy shifts.Demographics
Population Trends and Census Data
According to the 2010 United States Census, San Juan County had a population of 130,044. By the 2020 United States Census, this figure had declined to 121,661, representing a 6.6% decrease over the decade. U.S. Census Bureau estimates indicate further gradual decline, with the population at 120,817 as of July 1, 2024. The county's population density remains low, reflecting its rural character, at approximately 22 persons per square mile based on 2020 census data and land area of 5,514 square miles. This sparse distribution underscores limited urban concentration, with most residents clustered around cities like Farmington and Aztec.| Census Year | Population | Percent Change from Prior Decade |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 130,044 | - |
| 2020 | 121,661 | -6.6% |
Ethnic and Racial Composition
According to the 2020 United States Census, self-reported data indicate that American Indian and Alaska Native residents comprise 43.8% of San Juan County's population, marking the second-highest proportion among New Mexico counties behind McKinley County's 62.1%. Non-Hispanic White residents account for 37.5%, while Hispanic or Latino individuals of any race constitute 20.6%.[2] Smaller groups include Black or African American at 0.8% and Asian at 0.6%. These figures reflect a stable demographic profile, with the Native American share increasing modestly from 36.9% in 2000 despite periodic influxes of non-Native workers during energy sector booms in the San Juan Basin. The Native American population is overwhelmingly Navajo, aligned with the Navajo Nation's jurisdiction over 61.9% of the county's land area, alongside minor Ute Mountain Ute holdings at 2.9%.[2] This reservation overlap promotes cultural continuity, including bilingualism in Navajo and English, as well as adherence to traditional practices like livestock herding, artisan crafts, and communal ceremonies tied to landmarks such as Shiprock.[2] Hispanic residents primarily descend from Mexican heritage (10.7% of ancestry reported) or New Mexico's historic Hispano communities rooted in Spanish colonial settlement, fostering Spanish-language use and family-oriented customs in pockets of the county. Non-Hispanic Whites, concentrated in municipalities like Farmington and Aztec, often trace European ancestries such as English (15.0%), contributing to the county's diverse intercultural dynamics without significant dilution of indigenous majorities over recent decades.
Socioeconomic Metrics Including Poverty
The median household income in San Juan County was $53,020 in 2023, below the New Mexico state median of $60,980 and the national figure of approximately $74,580.[95] Per capita income stood at $27,839, reflecting limited broad-based prosperity despite energy sector wages.[96] Poverty affects 23.2% of the county's population, higher than the state rate of 18.2% and national 11.5%, with child poverty at 28.8%.[6] Rates are elevated among Native American residents, reaching over 40% in some reservation-adjacent areas, attributable to reservation economics including communal land tenure that restricts individual entrepreneurship and collateral for loans, compounded by higher rates of single-parent households which correlate with intergenerational poverty independent of external aid.[97][98] Educational attainment contributes to these disparities, with 86.4% of adults aged 25 and older holding a high school diploma or equivalent, but only 16.6% possessing a bachelor's degree or higher—below state averages of 87.5% and 28.3%, respectively.[99][100] Lower postsecondary completion limits access to higher-wage jobs outside extractive industries. Welfare reliance is pronounced, with SNAP (food stamps) recipients numbering over 20,000 in recent years amid caseload fluctuations tied to economic cycles; TANF participation, while smaller, reflects broader dependency patterns in areas with weak family structures and skill mismatches.[101] Energy sector employment provides mitigation through above-median wages (e.g., oil and gas roles averaging $70,000+), but federal policies curbing fossil fuel development have led to job losses exceeding 5,000 since 2014, exacerbating income volatility without offsetting private sector growth.[6]| Metric | San Juan County (2023) | New Mexico (2023) | United States (2023) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median Household Income | $53,020 | $60,980 | $74,580 |
| Poverty Rate (All Ages) | 23.2% | 18.2% | 11.5% |
| Bachelor's Degree or Higher (25+) | 16.6% | 28.3% | 34.3% |