Torrance County is a county in New Mexico, United States, containing the state’s geographic center southwest of Willard. It had a population of 15,045 at the 2020 census and covers 3,346 square miles (8,670 km2) centred near 34\u00b038\u2032N 105\u00b051\u2032W.<\/p>\n
Estancia is the county seat and its postal code is 87016. The county has one city, two towns, two villages, nine census-designated places and dozens of small unincorporated communities. Torrance County observes Mountain Time and is part of the Albuquerque metropolitan area.<\/p>\n
Torrance County’s settlements are spread across the high grassland of the Estancia Basin and the foothills of the Manzano Mountains. Moriarty is the largest place but Estancia holds the seat; Mountainair is the county’s other incorporated town. Encino and Willard are villages. CDP = census-designated place (an unincorporated community with a defined boundary for census purposes); Unincorp. = unincorporated place with no defined census boundary.<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estancia<\/td>\n | Town · seat<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 87016<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Moriarty<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 87035<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mountainair<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 87036<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Encino<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 88321<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Willard<\/td>\n | Village<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 87063<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Deer Canyon<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Duran<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Indian Hills<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Manzano<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Manzano Springs<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| McIntosh<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 87032<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Punta de Agua<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Tajique<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Torreon<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 87061<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Abo<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Antelope Springs<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Broncho<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Candelaria Place<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Carnero<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Cedarvale<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 87009<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Chato<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Chupadera<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Clines Corners<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 87070<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Culebra<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Derramadero<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dummoor<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| El Gato<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Estancia Ranchettes<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Gallegos<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Gran Quivira<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| La Cienega<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Los Chavez<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Lucy<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Martinez<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Negra<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| North Lucy<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Otto<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Palma<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Pedernal<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Pine Springs<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Progresso<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Scholle<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Silio<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Thunderbird<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Torrance<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Varney<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Witt<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Two names deserve a note. The unincorporated place called Torrance, in the county’s east near Cedarvale, is not the county seat — that is Estancia. Manzano Springs is a small settlement distinct from the larger CDP of Manzano a few miles to its north.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nThe remaining unincorporated communities have no ZIP code of their own and are served by the nearest post office listed above.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nTorrance County sits on the high grassland of the Estancia Basin, roughly 6,000 to 6,200 feet in elevation, with the Manzano Mountains rising to 10,098 feet along its western edge inside the Cibola National Forest. A chain of playas and seasonal lakes centred on Laguna del Perro lies in the county’s interior. Only 0.9 square miles of the county’s total area is water.<\/p>\n Torrance County borders Santa Fe County<\/a> to the north, San Miguel County to the northeast (see San Miguel County, New Mexico<\/a>), Guadalupe County to the east, Lincoln County to the south, Socorro County<\/a> to the southwest, Valencia County<\/a> to the west, and Bernalillo County<\/a> to the northwest.<\/p>\n The county’s population was 15,045 at the 2020 census, giving a density of about 4.5 people per square mile — one of the more sparsely settled counties in central New Mexico. Moriarty’s ZIP-code service area (87035) covers the largest share of county residents, followed by Estancia’s (87016). Median household income in Torrance County trails the New Mexico state median of $62,268; ZIP-level data from the U.S. Postal Service shows Encino’s service area with the county’s highest reported median household income.<\/p>\n Ranching and dryland farming on the Estancia Basin’s grassland have anchored the county’s economy since Anglo settlement began in the 1900s. Moriarty and Clines Corners, both on Interstate 40, function as service and trucking stops for travelers between Albuquerque and Santa Rosa; Clines Corners has long marketed itself with a large roadside gift shop and diner at the junction of I-40 and U.S. 285. The Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, whose three units include the Gran Quivira ruins in the county, draws visitors interested in the 17th-century Spanish mission churches built alongside ancestral Piro and Tompiro pueblos.<\/p>\n Torrance County was organized on March 16, 1903, carved from parts of Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Socorro, San Miguel, Lincoln and Valencia counties. The Estancia Basin’s Spanish-era ranches gave the county seat its name — estancia means a ranch or homestead. The ruins at Abo, Quarai and Gran Quivira, now protected within Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, mark 17th-century pueblos and Franciscan missions abandoned before Spanish colonists withdrew from the area during the Pueblo Revolt era. Homesteaders returned to the Estancia Basin in the early 1900s, drawn by dryland pinto-bean farming that briefly made the valley one of the country’s leading bean-producing regions before drought and the Depression thinned the population.<\/p>\n Interstate 40 crosses the county’s north end through Moriarty and Clines Corners; U.S. Routes 54, 60 and 285 and New Mexico Highways 41, 55 and 337 connect the county’s other towns.<\/p>\n Albuquerque International Sunport is the nearest commercial airport.<\/p>\n Where is Torrance County, New Mexico?<\/strong> What is the population of Torrance County?<\/strong> How big is Torrance County?<\/strong> What is the Torrance County seat?<\/strong> How many towns and villages are in Torrance County?<\/strong> |