Shiprock (Tsé Bitʼaʼí, "rock with wings") is a 27 million year old volcanic rock formation, designated as a National Natural Landmark, rising 1,583 feet above the desert.
Angel Peak Scenic Area is located 15 miles south of Bloomfield in San Juan County, with over 10,000 acres of rugged terrain, badlands and deep canyons.
The Aztec Ruins National Monument, on 318 acres, consists of dwellings and sacred structures built by Ancient Pueblo Indians in the 12th and 13th Centuries.
The San Juan River is a 383 mile long major tributary of the Colorado River and a primary drainage for the Four Corners.
The eggs and hoodoos in the Bisti Wilderness were formed in sand and silt revealed 73 million years ago when the Western Interior Seaway receded.
Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness (Bisti Badlands) is a 45,000-acre wilderness area full of rock formations made of sandstone, shale, mudstone, and silt.
Navajo Lake is a 3800 feet long and 400 feet deep reservoir located in northeastern San Juan County, created from a dam completed in 1962.
The La Plata Mountains, seen from San Juan County, are a small subrange of the San Juan Mountains in sw Colorado, and includes Hesperus Mountain at 13,332 feet.

Mental Health

Category: Health & Wellness

Mental Health - Adults

A question on the CDC telephone survey with adults (the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, or BRFSS) asks, "...thinking about your mental health, which includes stress, depression, and problems with emotions, for how many days during the past 30 days was your mental health not good?"

14 days or more days of poor mental health per month is defined by the CDC as "frequent mental distress."

In San Juan County, in 2023, an estimated 1 out of 5 (20.4%) experienced 14 or more poor mental health days in the past month, above New Mexico (17.1%) and the U.S. (15.4%).

Frequent Mental Distress

(14 or more days "not good" 
past month)

Mental Health by Demographic Groups

The BRFSS survey also asks respondents to indicate whether they have been diagnosed with depression. Overall, 18.2% of San Juan County respondents reported they had been diagnosed with depression by a medical or health professional.

Across San Juan County, females are more likely than males, and Caucasians are somewhat more likely than other races/ethnicities, to be diagnosed with depression.

Mental Health - High School

Across San Juan County, on the 2023 YRRS, over one-third (36.4%) of high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in the past year (for every day for two or more weeks): 38.6% of girls and 33.8% of boys. Overall, this is statistically similar to New Mexico (36.7%) and the U.S. (39.7%).

Felt Sad or Hopeless

Males
Females

Trends, Mental Health - High School

Most recently, the 2023 YRRS showed improvement in mental health experiences among high school youth in San Juan County, including a downward turn in persistent feelings of sadness/hopelessness, non-suicidal self-injury and suicide attempts. Similar  trends were seen across the state and U.S. (Note the questions for high school students ask about experiences over the past year.)

Trends in Mental Health by Sex

The percentage of males who reported persistent sadness/hopelessness increased from 29% in 2021 to 34% in 2023. Whereas there was a decrease in the experience among females, from 53% in 2021 to 39% in 2023.

Trends, Mental Health - Middle School

Modest improvements were seen in mental health indicators for middle school youth from 2019 to 2023, with a downward trend in those who report having experienced suicide ideation at some time in their lives. Note these three questions ask if the student has "ever" had the experience.

Youth data for San Juan County: Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (YRRS), New Mexico Dept of Health. See www.youthrisk.org to download the county report.

National Youth Data: National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) https://yrbs-explorer.services.cdc.gov/#/

Adult Data: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), CDC. Available at NM-IBIS and at https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/index.html

Frequent Mental Distress for San Juan County from "CDC Places" (See Notes)

Updated/Checked: Sept-Oct 2026

The Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (YRRS) is part of the national YRBSS system of surveys and is administered across New Mexico with high school and middle school students in the Fall of odd-numbered years by the New Mexico Dept. of Health in collaboration with school districts and the New Mexico Public Education Dept.

The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) volunteer telephone survey with adults across the U.S. These data area most readily available from New Mexico's Indicator-Based Information System (NM-IBIS). Additional information is available from the CDC website: https://www.cdc.gov/brfss/

CDC Places provides modeled, supplementary estimates for survey results based on smaller sample sizes. For example, in 2023, the sample size for San Juan County's BRFSS was relatively small (n=346) compared to previous years when it was greater than 600. Throughout this website, for indicators that are available, CDC Places is used as a reference to leverage the most accurate data possible.