Colfax County, New Mexico

Colfax County is a county in New Mexico, United States, along the Colorado border in the northeastern part of the state, where the Sangre de Cristo Mountains give way to the high plains. It had a population of 12,387 at the 2020 census and covers 3,768 square miles (9,760 km2) centred near 36°37′N 104°38′W.

Raton is the county seat; its postal code is 87740. The county contains one city, one town, four villages, one census-designated place, and a scatter of unincorporated communities, several of them former coal camps. Colfax County observes Mountain Time.

Towns & Villages in Colfax County

Colfax County has six incorporated places — one city (Raton, the seat), one town (Springer), and four villages (Angel Fire, Cimarron, Eagle Nest, Maxwell) — plus the census-designated place of Ute Park and roughly two dozen unincorporated communities, many dating to the county’s coal-mining and land-grant era. «CDP» marks a census-designated place; «Unincorp.» marks an unincorporated community with no municipal government.

Several of the unincorporated names on this list — Brilliant, Dawson, Gardiner, Koehler, Van Houten and Yankee among them — were company coal camps built in the early 1900s and largely abandoned once the mines closed by the mid-20th century; a handful, like Dawson, are now ghost towns with only a cemetery remaining. Elizabethtown, once the county’s first seat, is likewise a ghost town today, its ruins visible off NM-38 near Eagle Nest.

ZIP Codes

• 87740 — Raton (post office town)
• 87747 — Springer (also serves Abbott, Colfax and nearby ranch country)
• 87710 — Angel Fire
• 87714 — Cimarron (also serves Rayado and Philmont Scout Ranch)
• 87718 — Eagle Nest (also serves Black Lake)
• 87728 — Maxwell
• 87729 — Miami
• 87749 — Ute Park

Colfax County has eight ZIP codes in all; the smallest unincorporated communities share a ZIP with the nearest post-office town rather than having their own.

Geography

Colfax County spans two distinct landscapes: the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and their foothills in the west, rising past 12,000 feet around Wheeler Peak’s outliers near Angel Fire and Eagle Nest, and the shortgrass high plains in the east around Springer and Clayton-bound US-56/64. The Vermejo, Cimarron and Canadian rivers drain the county, and Eagle Nest Lake, a reservoir on the Cimarron River, is the largest body of water. Raton Pass, on the Colorado line north of Raton, carries the historic Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail and today’s Interstate 25 across the Sangre de Cristo range at 7,834 feet.

Colfax County borders Las Animas County, Colorado to the north along with Costilla County, Colorado, Taos County to the west, Mora County to the south, Harding County to the southeast, and Union County to the east.

Demographics

Colfax County had 12,387 residents at the 2020 census, spread across a land area of 3,758 square miles for a density of about 3.3 people per square mile — among the more sparsely settled counties in New Mexico. Raton and Springer are the two largest communities by a wide margin. Household income in the county runs well below the New Mexico median of $62,268, reflecting the decline of coal mining and railroading that once supported a much larger population; Colfax County’s population peaked in the early 20th century during the coal boom and has fallen substantially since.

Economy & Local Life

Ranching and agriculture remain the backbone of the rural county, alongside tourism tied to its mountain and high-plains scenery. Philmont Scout Ranch, the Boy Scouts of America’s flagship high-adventure base near Cimarron, draws tens of thousands of visitors each summer and is one of the county’s largest seasonal employers. The NRA Whittington Center, also near Raton, is a major shooting-sports training and competition facility. Angel Fire Resort brings winter skiing and summer mountain-biking traffic to the Enchanted Circle, and Eagle Nest Lake State Park supports fishing and boating. Raton, the seat, anchors the county’s retail, healthcare and government services and sits on the BNSF Railway’s transcontinental line.

History

Colfax County was organized on January 25, 1869, carved from the northern part of Mora County, and named for Schuyler Colfax, who served as the seventeenth Vice President of the United States under Ulysses S. Grant. Much of the county once fell within the vast Maxwell Land Grant, held by frontier trader Lucien Maxwell, and Cimarron served for a time as its headquarters and as a stop on the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail. Coal mining brought a wave of company towns in the early 1900s; the Dawson mine, then owned by Phelps Dodge, was the site of two of the deadliest coal-mining disasters in United States history, explosions in 1913 and 1923 that together killed roughly 386 miners. The mines closed by the 1950s and most of the camps were dismantled or abandoned soon after.

Getting There

Interstate 25 runs north–south through Raton, crossing into Colorado at Raton Pass, while US-64 links Cimarron, Eagle Nest and Angel Fire along the Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway before continuing west to Taos. NM-58 connects Angel Fire and Eagle Nest, and NM-21 links Springer, Maxwell and Cimarron.

• Trinidad, Colorado — about 20 miles north of Raton
• Taos — about 45 miles west of Eagle Nest
• Las Vegas, New Mexico — about 55 miles south of Springer
• Santa Fe — about 130 miles south of Raton

Raton is served by Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, which stops at the historic Raton depot on its Chicago–Los Angeles route. The nearest commercial-service airport is Albuquerque International Sunport, roughly 200 miles to the south; Raton Municipal Airport handles general aviation only.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colfax County, New Mexico?
It sits in the northeastern corner of New Mexico on the Colorado line, where the Sangre de Cristo Mountains meet the high plains.

What is the population of Colfax County?
Colfax County had a population of 12,387 at the 2020 census.

How big is Colfax County?
The county covers 3,768 square miles (9,760 km2), of which about 10 square miles are water.

What is the county seat of Colfax County?
Raton is the county seat.

How many towns and villages are in Colfax County?
Six incorporated places — the city of Raton, the town of Springer, and the villages of Angel Fire, Cimarron, Eagle Nest and Maxwell — plus the CDP of Ute Park and about two dozen unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes are in Colfax County?
Eight ZIP codes serve the county, led by 87740 (Raton), 87747 (Springer), 87710 (Angel Fire), 87714 (Cimarron), 87718 (Eagle Nest) and 87728 (Maxwell).

What is Philmont Scout Ranch?
It is the Boy Scouts of America’s national high-adventure base near Cimarron, one of the largest seasonal draws and employers in the county.

More counties in this state: Towns and villages in New Mexico.