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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Aztec Ruins National Monument, on 318 acres, consists of dwellings and sacred structures built by Ancient Pueblo Indians in the 12th and 13th Centuries.

Population

Category: Demographics

Geographic Location

San Juan County is located in the northwest corner of New Mexico, in the "New Mexico Corner" of the Four Corners Region.

The map below shows the location of the county relative to the Four Corners and the Navajo Nation. Just under two-thirds (61%), of the county's 5,513 square miles lies within the Navajo Nation.

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Population

San Juan County's current estimated population (2025) is 120,340, above what it was at the 2000 Census, and below what it was in 2010.

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2025 Est. Population

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2000 Census

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2010 Census

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2020 Census

Population Trend

San Juan County saw steady population growth through 2010, when it reached a population of just over 130,000 residents. From 2010 through 2020 there was a steady (6%) decrease, until reaching a plateau of around 120k to 121k in 2020.

Population Density

Of San Juan County's 5,513 square mile footprint, about 5,450 square miles are classified as rural land area, with just 1.1% classified as urban land area in which 64.8% of the population resides. One-third of the population (35.2%) lives in a rural area, compared to 24.7% across New Mexico.

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Square Miles

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People per Sq Mile

Live in Rural Area

Areas of relatively higher population density are found along the San Juan and Animas Rivers, which corresponds to the Hwy 550 and Hwy 64 corridors. Farmington is the largest city, with a population of 46,000 residents and an overall population density of about 1,300 people per square mile, followed by Shiprock (pop. 8,349), Bloomfield (pop. 7,319) and Aztec (pop. 6,070).

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Sources: U.S. Census Bureau

  • Decennial Census (2000, 2010 and 2020)
  • Population Trends: Population Estimates Program (PEP, retrieved from FRED Federal Reserve Bank:
    https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NMSANJ0POP)
  • American Community Survey, overall population density, San Juan County (1-year est.) and 5-year Block Group Population Estimates (2024)
  • TIGER/Line Shapefiles (2025) (San Juan Block Group and American Indian Area Geography) (Note: used for maps)

Updated/Checked: Sept-Oct 2026

Important note: U.S. Census estimates from different Census departments/surveys vary.

For example, population estimates from the Decennial Census, the American Community Survey (ACS), and the Population Estimates Program (PEP) are different.