3,795 people (2024 Census estimate, +5.2% since 2020)
6,924 square miles of land · 1 people per square mile
“Highest” and “lowest” are just order, not grades: a high rank for poverty or hazard losses means more of it. Each figure's source is in its section below.
9 active community water systems list Catron County in the area they serve, reporting 1,970 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| RESERVE WATER WORKS groundwater · local government · NM3523402 | 601 served |
| QUEMADO LAKE WATER ASSOCIATION groundwater · private · NM3580202 | 344 served |
| QUEMADO MUTUAL WATER & SWA groundwater · local government · NM3500202 | 286 served |
| HOMESTEAD LANDOWNERS ASSOCIATION groundwater · private · NM3580102 | 170 served |
| RANCHO GRANDE WATER ASSOCIATION INC groundwater · private · NM3523502 | 166 served |
| COYOTE CREEK MUTUAL DOMESTIC WUA groundwater · local government · NM3500402 | 133 served |
| SPRING CANYON RANCH groundwater · private · NM3500902 | 116 served |
| PIE TOWN MDWCA groundwater · local government · NM3523202 | 107 served |
Source: U.S. EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), active community systems, . Look up any system's violations and test results with EPA's search using its ID.
About 1 people were held in Catron County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2022), or 55 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2017 it was about 2.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice, Incarceration Trends (built from federal Bureau of Justice Statistics jail surveys). Counties without their own jail, or that share one, may show no figure.
2 school districts have their office in Catron County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $5.1 million — $4.9 million to run schools, about $29,375 per student, plus $176,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.6 million local (mostly property tax), $3.9 million state, $785,000 federal. Long-term debt: $475,000.
Spent $3.9 million — $3.7 million to run schools, about $34,857 per student, plus $265,000 on buildings and equipment. Money in: $896,000 local (mostly property tax), $2.9 million state, $360,000 federal. Long-term debt: $1.1 million.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Annual Survey of School System Finances. Districts are listed by the county of their main office; some serve neighboring counties too.
Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025 (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute), which gathers federal data (CDC, Census, and others); measures cover different recent years. Blank lines aren't reported for small counties.
Overall risk: Very Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Catron County about $6.8 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Very Low; social vulnerability: Very High.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
100 bridges in Catron County: 47 in good condition, 50 fair, and 3 poor (3.0%). “Poor” means a main part — the deck, the beams, or the supports — is rated 4 or lower on the federal 0–9 scale. It doesn't mean unsafe to drive; unsafe bridges are closed.
| NM-12 over STARKWEATHER CANYON · built 1939 | 979 vehicles a day |
| 03-0007 over TROUT CREEK · built 1939 | 158 vehicles a day |
| 03-0013 over Dangerous Park Tributary · built 1937 | 66 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $5.7 million of work in Catron County in fiscal 2025, about $1,586 per resident — to the county, cities, schools, hospitals, nonprofits and others.
Source: USAspending.gov, grants by place of performance, fiscal 2025 (Oct. 2024 to Sept. 2025). Search it by county to see each award.
From Grants.gov: posted grants listing county governments as eligible, soonest deadline first; research-only and overseas programs left out; list updated 2026-10-13, refreshed weekly. 62 are open in all. Cities, towns, school districts and nonprofits have their own lists there.
Registration deadlines, early voting and polling places for New Mexico are on the federal site vote.gov, which links to the state's official election office.
The budget, property tax rates, audits, local officials and offices for Catron County come from the county's own records, which we haven't gathered — not gathered, never hidden. See what a full county site looks like, or ask to have Catron County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of New Mexico: the state government and every county in New Mexico.
Nearby counties: Greenlee County, AZ (67 mi) · Cibola County (74 mi) · Grant County (81 mi) · Socorro County (83 mi) · Sierra County (88 mi) · Valencia County (107 mi).