Atoka, New Mexico
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1978. It stands in the Artesia census division. It lies in ZIP code area 88210. It lies near Tumbleweed Draw. The Survey maps it on the Artesia quadrangle. 1,153 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,376 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresAtoka grew from 1,077 to 1,153 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 | 1,077 | |
| 2020 | 1,153 | +76 (+7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 8 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 Carlsbad quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1955 USGS Artesia quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Carlsbad quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1978 USGS Artesia quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
37 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 37 fires within 5 miles of Atoka between 1992 and 2020, burning about 4,020 acres in total. 3 started naturally. None was 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 | 18 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 14 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 September 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Capitan District | KINCAID RANCH ROAD |
| 25 August 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | HUMMINGBIRD ROAD |
| 6 July 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | ATOKA |
| 4 July 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Carlsbad Field Office | JC PARK |
| 3 July 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | not named |
| 25 June 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Carlsbad Field Office | AVALON |
| 22 June 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 acres | Carlsbad Field Office | 13TH STREET |
| 21 June 2020 | Smoking | under an acre | Capitan District | PENASCO |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Atoka: 6 unknowns. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Materials Pit | Stone | Unknown | ||
| Materials Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Materials Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Materials Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Materials Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| Sherrell Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
10 since 2009Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Atoka in 10 storm reports between 2009 and 2025: 5 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Atoka | $180,000 | Several side roll irrigation sprinklers were destroyed by a strong wind gust in Atoka, NM. The time of this report was estimated according to radar and another wind gust recorded by the Artesia ASOS. |
| June 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Atoka | $16,000 | There were numerous damage reports associated with this severe thunderstorm. The damage path has been estimated according to these reports. At 1945 MST, a trained spotter reported that a small camper was blown over onto a pickup truck near the intersection of Kincaid Rd and Highway 385. Significant damage was done to the camper. About five minutes later, 30' long by 20' wide metal sheds were destroyed about 5 miles south of Artesia and an Atoka, NM resident had his porch awning blown off his house. Around 1955 MST, thunderstorm wind gusts snapped a power pole in half near the junction of 4 Dinkus Rd and Highway 285. |
| September 2016 | Hail | Atoka | $4,000 | A storm moved across Eddy County and produced ping pong ball sized hail in Atoka. The hail broke skylights and side mirrors on vehicles and also did damage to an RV. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate. |
| September 2019 | Flash Flood | Atoka | $1,000 | Heavy rain fell across Eddy County and produced flash flooding near Artesia. Water was up to the doorway of homes at East Blevins Road and Haldeman Road. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate. |
| June 2025 | Flash Flood | Atoka | - | Flash flooding of the normally dry Fourmile Draw with 4 to 5 feet of water over North Lake Road. Duration is an estimation. |
| June 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Atoka | - | A thunderstorm that moved across western Eddy County produced an estimated wind gust of 60 mph that was reported by a storm chaser. |
| June 2019 | Hail | Atoka | - | no account filed |
| October 2015 | Hail | Atoka | - | no account filed |
| October 2015 | Hail | Atoka | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Atoka | - | 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.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton | 2.6 miles | 9 | |
| Artesia | 5.1 miles | 8 | |
| Frontier Post | 5.6 miles | 9 | |
| Riverside | 7.0 miles | 9 | |
| Illinois Camp | 10.2 miles | 10 | |
| Espuela | 11.1 miles | 8 | |
| Seven Rivers | 12.2 miles | 8 | |
| Hope | 18.4 miles | 9 |
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 Atoka | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5711043 | 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 898718. 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.



