Alamosa, Colorado
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1988. It stands in the Alamosa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81101. The Survey maps it on the Alamosa East quadrangle. 9,806 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 7,543 feet above sea level.
Research this city
On record in Alamosa
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 10 records
Alamosa County Courthouselisted 1995
Alamosa Post Officelisted 2009
American National Bank Buildinglisted 1999
Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Depotlisted 1993
Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Locomotive No.169listed 2001
First Baptist Churchlisted 2005
Husung Hardwarelisted 2000
Mt. Pleasant Schoollisted 2006
Sacred Heart Catholic Churchlisted 1998
St. Thomas Episcopal Churchlisted 2003
Population over time
2 figuresAlamosa grew from 8,780 to 9,806 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 8,780 | |
| 2020 | 9,806 | +1,026 (+12%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 11 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1954 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:250000
- 1959 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:250000
- 1966 USGS Alamosa East quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1983 USGS Alamosa quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1988 USGS Trinidad quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
147 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 147 fires within 5 miles of Alamosa between 1992 and 2020, burning about 222 acres in total. None started naturally. 7 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 84 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 46 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 7 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Debris and open burning | 2 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | ALAMOSA |
| 30 September 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Denver County | not named |
| 29 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 29 September 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | CSFS-Alamosa District | not named |
| 28 September 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Denver County | not named |
| 20 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | ALAMOSA |
| 20 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 20 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 15 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 15 workings within 5 miles of Alamosa: 12 past producers, 2 occurrences, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alamosa Pit #2 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
22 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Alamosa in 22 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 7 tornado, 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 3 lightning. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1996 | Lightning | Alamosa | 1 hurt | no account filed |
| August 1993 | Hail | Alamosa | $500,000 | Marble-size hail caused an estimated $75,000 damage to nine aircraft at the Alamosa Airport. In addition, the hail damaged vehicles in the airport parking lot, as well as destroying barley fields southwest of Alamosa. |
| September 1997 | Lightning | Alamosa | $40,000 | Lightning struck a mobile home, setting it on fire. It was totally destroyed. |
| March 1995 | Tornado (F1) | Alamosa | $11,000 | A tornado briefly touched down on a farm two miles south of Alamosa in Alamosa County. A large tractor shed had been detached from its concrete foundation. Windshilds of vehicles and fences had been damaged as well. The land owners who witnessed the tornado estimated it to be about 20 feet wide and on the ground for about a 0.1 miles. |
| September 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alamosa | - | Convective wind gust of 66 mph was measured at KALS observation station. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alamosa | - | Alamosa airport. |
| September 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alamosa | - | Alamosa airport. |
| June 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Alamosa | - | Tornado caused no known damage over open country. This tornado moved from Alamosa County to Costilla County. |
| July 2006 | Tornado (F0) | Alamosa | - | A weak, short-lived tornado caused no known damage. |
| July 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Alamosa | - | A brief lived tornado caused no known damage. |
| August 2003 | Tornado (F0) | Alamosa | - | A NWS employee observed two non-mesocyclone tornados (landspouts) under a towering cumulus cloud...which caused no known damage. |
| June 1995 | Tornado (F0) | Alamosa | - | A very brief tornado touched down on open land. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alamosa | - | no account filed |
| August 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alamosa | - | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Alamosa | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Lightning | Alamosa | - | no account filed |
| April 2000 | Wildfire | Alamosa | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Alamosa | - | no account filed |
| May 1998 | Tornado (F0) | Alamosa | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Hail | Alamosa | - | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Hail | Alamosa | - | no account filed |
| July 1995 | Hail | Alamosa | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Alamosa | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q1010247 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 203624. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.






