McKinley County is a county in New Mexico, United States, on the Arizona border. It had a population of 72,902 at the 2020 census and covers 5,450 square miles (14,115 km2) of land, centred near 35°28′N 108°20′W.
Gallup is the county seat, and its postal code is 87301. The county has one incorporated city and dozens of unincorporated communities and Navajo Nation chapter settlements, no organized townships, and sits in the Mountain time zone. Its FIPS code is 35031.
Towns & Villages in McKinley County
McKinley County has one incorporated city, Gallup, plus roughly 80 unincorporated communities, Navajo Nation chapter houses, and former mining and railroad settlements scattered across the reservation and checkerboard lands. Most carry no separate population count from the Census Bureau because they fall inside larger Census County Divisions rather than their own CDPs. Two duplicate entries from older listings (a repeated “Ojo Encino” and “Sundance”) have been merged into one row each.
| Place | Type | Pop. | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gallup | City · seat | 21,678 | 87301 / 87305 |
| Zuni Pueblo | CDP | 5,908 | 87327 |
| Crownpoint | Unincorp. | — | 87313 |
| Church Rock | Unincorp. | — | 87311 |
| Tohatchi | Unincorp. | — | 87325 |
| Thoreau | Unincorp. | — | 87323 |
| Yah-ta-hey | Unincorp. | — | 87375 |
| Gamerco | Unincorp. | — | 87317 |
| Vanderwagen | Unincorp. | — | 87326 |
| Ramah | Unincorp. | — | 87321 |
| Rehoboth | Unincorp. | — | 87322 |
| Fort Wingate | Unincorp. | — | 87316 |
| Mentmore | Unincorp. | — | 87319 |
| Mexican Springs | Unincorp. | — | 87320 |
| Prewitt | Unincorp. | — | 87045 |
| Continental Divide | Unincorp. | — | 87312 |
| Brimhall Nizhoni | Unincorp. | — | 87310 |
| Navajo | Unincorp. | — | 87328 |
| Smith Lake | Unincorp. | — | 87365 |
| Jamestown | Unincorp. | — | 87347 |
| Allison | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Ambrosia Lake | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Becenti | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Black Hat | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Black Rock | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Bluewater | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Borrego Pass | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Bread Springs | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Buffalo Springs | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Catalpa Canyon | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Chi Chil Tah | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Ciniza | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Coolidge | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Coyote Canyon | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Crestview | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Crystal | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Defiance | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Dos Tristes | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Eagle Nest | Unincorp. | — | — |
| El Dado | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Gonzales | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Haystack | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Homer C Jones | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Hospah | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Iyanbito | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Leon | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lower Nutria | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Manuelito | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Mariano Lake | Unincorp. | — | — |
| McCune | Unincorp. | — | — |
| McGaffey | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Nakaibito | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Navajo Wingate Village | Unincorp. | — | — |
| North Chaves | Unincorp. | — | — |
| South Chaves | Unincorp. | — | — |
| North Guam | Unincorp. | — | — |
| South Guam | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Ojo Encino | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Page | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Perea | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Pescado | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Piedra de la Aguila | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Pinedale | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Pinehaven | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Pueblo Pintado | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Purty Rock | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Red Rock | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Red Rock Ranch | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Rock Springs | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Sagar | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Seven Lakes | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Standing Rock | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Sundance | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Tekapo | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Timberlake | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Tinian | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Tse Bonito | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Twin Buttes | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Twin Lakes | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Upper Nutria | Unincorp. | — | — |
| White Cliffs | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Whitehorse | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Williams Acres | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Wingate | Unincorp. | — | — |
Zuni Pueblo, home of the Zuni Tribe, sits in the county’s far southwest corner and is administered separately from the Navajo Nation chapters that cover most of the rest of McKinley County. Fort Wingate, Wingate, and Navajo Wingate Village all take their names from the former U.S. Army depot east of Gallup and refer to distinct but adjoining sites, not duplicates.
ZIP Codes
- 87301 — Gallup (main post office)
- 87305 — Gallup (south side)
- 87327 — Zuni (also serves Black Rock)
- 87313 — Crownpoint (also serves Standing Rock, Whitehorse)
- 87311 — Church Rock
- 87375 — Yah-ta-hey
- 87323 — Thoreau
- 87328 — Navajo (also serves Twin Lakes)
- 87045 — Prewitt
- 87319 — Mentmore
- 87326 — Vanderwagen
- 87325 — Tohatchi (also serves Mexican Water side chapters)
- 87321 — Ramah
- 87316 — Fort Wingate
- 87317 — Gamerco
- 87310 — Brimhall (also serves Brimhall Nizhoni)
- 87312 — Continental Divide
- 87320 — Mexican Springs
- 87322 — Rehoboth
- 87347 — Jamestown
- 87365 — Smith Lake
Most of the county’s smaller communities and Navajo Nation chapter houses share the ZIP of the nearest post-office town listed above rather than carrying their own code.
Geography
McKinley County lies on the Colorado Plateau in New Mexico’s northwest corner, a landscape of high mesas, sandstone bluffs, and pinyon-juniper forest cut by the Rio Puerco and Zuni River drainages. Elevations range from roughly 6,000 feet around Gallup to over 9,000 feet in the Zuni Mountains south of the city. The county contains the eastern edge of the Navajo Nation, the Zuni Indian Reservation, and part of Cibola National Forest.
San Juan County borders McKinley to the north and Sandoval County to the east; Cibola County lies to the south and Apache County, Arizona, to the west.
Demographics
McKinley County had 72,902 residents at the 2020 census, giving it a density of about 13 people per square mile. Gallup, the largest community, had 21,678 residents; Zuni Pueblo, the second-largest, had 5,908. The county is majority Native American — roughly four in five residents identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, mostly Navajo, with a Zuni population concentrated around Zuni Pueblo. Median household income runs well below the New Mexico median of $62,268, reflecting the county’s rural reservation economy and limited wage employment outside Gallup.
Economy & Local Life
Gallup has long billed itself the “Indian Capital of the World,” anchored by a large Native American arts, jewelry, and rug trade along historic Route 66 through downtown. Government and tribal services are the county’s biggest employers — the Navajo Nation, Zuni Pueblo government, McKinley County, Gallup-McKinley County Schools (one of New Mexico’s largest school districts by area), and Gallup Indian Medical Center. The BNSF Railway (former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe main line) and Interstate 40 both run through Gallup, and coal and uranium mining shaped the county’s economy for much of the 20th century, though most mines closed by the 1980s. The Red Rock Balloon Rally and the Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial, both held near Gallup, are the county’s best-known annual events.
History
McKinley County was organized on January 1, 1901, carved from portions of Bernalillo and Valencia counties and named for President William McKinley shortly after his assassination that year. Coal mining around Gallup drew rail workers and immigrant labor in the early 1900s, and the town grew as a division point on the Santa Fe Railway. In 2020, McKinley County recorded some of the highest per-capita COVID-19 case rates in the United States, prompting extended lockdowns on the adjoining Navajo Nation; the county and the tribe worked jointly on the public-health response.
Getting There
Interstate 40 crosses the county east-west through Gallup, with US Route 491 running north toward Shiprock and NM 602 and NM 264 reaching the Zuni and Ramah areas.
- Albuquerque, NM — 140 miles east
- Farmington, NM — 85 miles north
- Flagstaff, AZ — 200 miles west
- Grants, NM — 65 miles east
Gallup Municipal Airport offers limited regional service; the nearest major commercial airport is Albuquerque International Sunport.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is McKinley County?
It is in northwestern New Mexico, on the Arizona border, roughly 140 miles west of Albuquerque.
What is the population of McKinley County?
72,902 at the 2020 census.
How big is McKinley County?
5,450 square miles (14,115 km2) of land, one of the largest counties in New Mexico by area.
What is the county seat of McKinley County?
Gallup is the county seat and largest city.
How many towns are in McKinley County?
One incorporated city, Gallup, plus roughly 80 unincorporated communities and Navajo Nation chapter settlements.
What ZIP codes are in McKinley County?
Gallup uses 87301 and 87305; other towns include Zuni (87327), Crownpoint (87313), and Thoreau (87323).
What language besides English is common in McKinley County?
Navajo is widely spoken; McKinley is one of the few U.S. counties where English is not the primary home language for most residents.
More counties in this state: Towns and villages in New Mexico.