157,757 people (2024 Census estimate, +5.7% since 2020)
3,710 square miles of land · 43 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.
28 active community water systems list Sandoval County in the area they serve, reporting 130,847 people served in all (a system that crosses county lines counts its whole population).
| RIO RANCHO WATER & WW SERVICES buys surface water · local government · NM3509623 | 107,350 served |
| BERNALILLO WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · NM3508923 | 11,810 served |
| CUBA WATER SYSTEM groundwater · local government · NM3509023 | 1,789 served |
| JEMEZ SPRINGS DWUA groundwater · local government · NM3509123 | 1,385 served |
| LA MESA WATER COOP groundwater · private · NM3500123 | 911 served |
| REGINA MDWCA groundwater · local government · NM3509523 | 705 served |
| PENA BLANCA WATER & SANITATION DISTRICT groundwater · local government · NM3531623 | 700 served |
| NORTH RANCHOS DE PLACITAS W&SD groundwater · local government · NM3546223 | 659 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 122 people were held in Sandoval County's jail, in Vera's latest figure (2023), or 125 per 100,000 residents ages 15–64. In 2018 it was about 404.
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.
4 school districts have their office in Sandoval County. School taxes are usually the largest part of a property tax bill.
Spent $247.4 million — $231.3 million to run schools, about $13,392 per student, plus $12.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $42.5 million local (mostly property tax), $199.6 million state, $27 million federal. Long-term debt: $131.3 million.
Spent $65.1 million — $53.2 million to run schools, about $19,085 per student, plus $11 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $10.6 million local (mostly property tax), $37.1 million state, $18.8 million federal. Long-term debt: $37.4 million.
Spent $26.4 million — $20.5 million to run schools, about $27,430 per student, plus $5.4 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $4.1 million local (mostly property tax), $15.4 million state, $8 million federal. Long-term debt: $7.9 million.
Spent $10.1 million — $8.1 million to run schools, about $22,585 per student, plus $1.5 million on buildings and equipment. Money in: $1.6 million local (mostly property tax), $6.9 million state, $3.7 million federal. Long-term debt: $6.5 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: Relatively Low compared with other U.S. counties. FEMA estimates natural hazards cost Sandoval County about $31.5 million a year on average in buildings, crops and lives. Ability to bounce back (community resilience): Relatively Moderate; social vulnerability: Relatively Moderate.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), expected annual loss. Ratings compare counties nationwide; they're estimates, not predictions.
180 bridges in Sandoval County: 62 in good condition, 110 fair, and 8 poor (4.4%). “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-313 over Las Huertas Creek · built 1975 | 7,686 vehicles a day |
| US-550 over RIO PUERCO · built 1970 | 5,001 vehicles a day |
| NM-22 over NMRX · built 1963 | 1,937 vehicles a day |
| IRR BIA RTE 78 over JEMEZ RIVER · built 1979 | 600 vehicles a day |
| 43-0011 over NACIMIENTO CREEK · built 1932 | 112 vehicles a day |
| 43-Z001 over Bernalillo Main Canal · built 1985 | 97 vehicles a day |
Source: Federal Highway Administration, National Bridge Inventory (2025 submission). Includes state, county and city bridges.
Federal grants paid for $91.1 million of work in Sandoval County in fiscal 2025, about $612 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 Sandoval 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 Sandoval County built: brayden.ozark@gmail.com.
More of New Mexico: the state government and every county in New Mexico.
Nearby counties: Los Alamos County (35 mi) · Bernalillo County (45 mi) · Santa Fe County (53 mi) · Rio Arriba County (58 mi) · Valencia County (67 mi) · McKinley County (77 mi).