Bent, New Mexico
10 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1950 and the latest in 2004. It stands in the Tularosa census division. It lies in ZIP code area 88314. It lies near Nogal Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Mescalero quadrangle. 150 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,823 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresBent grew from 119 to 150 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 | 119 | |
| 2020 | 150 | +31 (+26%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 10 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.
- 1950 USGS Mescalero quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1955 USGS Roswell quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Roswell quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Roswell quadrangle1:250000
- 1982 USGS Mescalero quadrangle1:24000
- 1984 USGS Ruidoso quadrangle1:100000
- 2004 USGS Mescalero quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
255 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 255 fires within 5 miles of Bent between 1992 and 2020, burning about 254 acres in total. 14 started naturally. 24 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 | 83 |
| Debris and open burning | 53 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 24 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 21 |
| Other causes | 16 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 16 |
| Natural | 14 |
| Smoking | 10 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 8 |
| Fireworks | 8 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 September 2005 | Natural | under an acre | Mescalero Agency | ELM STREET |
| 13 September 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Mescalero Agency | KOKOPELLI 2 |
| 8 August 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Mescalero Agency | CASTLE |
| 7 August 1998 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Mescalero Agency | A SIDE |
| 23 August 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Mescalero Agency | MOUNTAIN |
| 22 August 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Mescalero Agency | GERONIMO |
| 1 August 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Mescalero Agency | CACTUS |
| 9 July 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Mescalero Agency | TRACK |
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 Bent: 4 unknowns, 1 occurrence, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper, Bismuth, Silver. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grandview Mine | Copper, Bismuth | Occurrence | ||
| Mescalero Magnetite-Hematite | Iron | Unknown | ||
| Virginia Mine | Copper, Silver | Past Producer | 1905, 1917 | |
| State Hwy Pit No 63-26-S | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| State Hwy Pit No. 80-2-S | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown | ||
| State Hwy Pit No. 80-3-S | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
3 since 2022Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bent in 3 storm reports between 2022 and 2025: 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2022 | Flash Flood | Bent | $10,000 | A total of 2.25 inches of rain fell at the Newcalero Tribal Fish Hatchery in about an hour and a half. Flash flooding was subsequently reported between mile markers 247 and 252 on Highway 70 with 3 feet of water and debris crossing the road. In addition to the highway flooding, six inches of water flowed into the Mescalero Community Center. |
| July 2025 | Flash Flood | Bent | - | The Mescalero EM reported burn scar flooding from the Seven Springs fire. |
| August 2022 | Flash Flood | Bent | - | Recent heavy rain and an additional 1 to 3 inches of rain brought debris flow down from the Soldier Canyon burn scar. The Emergency Manager reported Round Mountain Road was closed from 4 feet of mud and debris. |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blazers Mill | 3.7 miles | 10 | |
| Mescalero | 4.4 miles | 10 | |
| Tularosa | 10.4 miles | 13 | |
| Carrizo | 11.7 miles | 10 | |
| Apache | 11.8 miles | 9 | |
| Salinas | 12.0 miles | 13 | |
| Alamorosa | 12.8 miles | 9 | |
| Silver Springs | 13.2 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 Bent | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q5726226 | 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 903754. 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.






