68,945 people (2024 Census estimate, −5.0% since 2020)
5,451 square miles of land · 13 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.
16 active community water systems list McKinley County in the area they serve, reporting 26,362 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| GALLUP WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · NM3508317 | 20,880 served |
| GAMERCO WATER & SANITATION buys groundwater · local government · NM3508517 | 1,744 served |
| THOREAU WATER & SANITATION DISTRICT groundwater · local government · NM3508817 | 1,173 served |
| RAMAH WATER & SANITATION DISTRICT groundwater · local government · NM3508717 | 517 served |
| YAH TA HEY W & SD groundwater · local government · NM3532717 | 435 served |
| WHISPERING CEDARS WATER ASSOCIATION groundwater · private · NM3510517 | 425 served |
| WHITE CLIFFS MDWUA groundwater · local government · NM3500117 | 323 served |
| TOP OF THE WORLD WATER ASSOCIATION CORP groundwater · private · NM3532617 | 177 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 133 people were held in McKinley County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 300 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 158.
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 McKinley County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $295 million — $231.5 million to run schools, about $18,936 per student, plus $61.7 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $13.6 million local (mostly property tax), $176.5 million state, $102.2 million federal. Long-term debt: $43.7 million.
Spent $28.9 million — $26.4 million to run schools, about $24,091 per student, plus $2.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.4 million local (mostly property tax), $17.8 million state, $19.9 million federal.
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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost McKinley County about $20.8 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.
289 bridges in McKinley County: 109 in good condition, 157 fair, and 23 poor (8.0%). “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.
| I-40 WBL over GOV ORD BASE/LOCAL RD. · built 1963 | 25,439 vehicles a day |
| I-40 EBL over GOV ORD BASE/LOCAL RD. · built 1963 | 25,439 vehicles a day |
| I-40 WBL over RIO PUERCO OF THE WEST · built 1950 | 24,827 vehicles a day |
| IRR BIA RTE N11 over PINEDALE WASH · built 1985 | 3,000 vehicles a day |
| IRR BIA RTE N108 over WASH · built 1976 | 900 vehicles a day |
| 31-0009 over DEATH WASH · built 1992 | 803 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $109.9 million of work in McKinley County in fiscal 2025, about $1,508 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 McKinley 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 McKinley County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of New Mexico: the state government and every county in New Mexico.
Nearby counties: Cibola County (48 mi) · San Juan County (64 mi) · Apache County, AZ (71 mi) · Sandoval County (77 mi) · Bernalillo County (96 mi) · Valencia County (101 mi).