Paradise Hills, New Mexico
21 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1888 and the latest in 1990. It stands in the Albuquerque census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87114. It lies near Piedras Marcadas Canyon. The Survey maps it on the Los Griegos quadrangle. 4,329 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,315 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresParadise Hills grew from 4,256 to 4,329 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 | 4,256 | |
| 2020 | 4,329 | +73 (+2%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
13 surveys from 21 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.
- 1888 USGS Bernalillo quadrangle1:125000
- 1889 USGS Albuquerque quadrangle1:125000
- 1893 USGS Albuquerque quadrangle1:125000, 5 printings
- 1934 USGS Griegos quadrangle1:24000
- 1938 USGS Albuquerque quadrangle1:62500
- 1954 USGS Los Griegos quadrangle1:24000
- 1958 USGS Albuquerque quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Los Griegos quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1962 USGS Albuquerque quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Albuquerque quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1978 USGS Albuquerque quadrangle1:100000
- 1983 USGS Albuquerque quadrangle1:250000
- 1990 USGS Los Griegos quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
41 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 41 fires within 5 miles of Paradise Hills between 1993 and 2020, burning about 101 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 2 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 | 28 |
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 September 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Southern Pueblos Agency | SHADY |
| 1 August 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3.0 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | EAGLE |
| 5 July 1998 | Fireworks | under an acre | Petroglyph National Monument | MARSH-GT22 |
| 5 July 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | ERINE |
| 5 July 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7.5 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | LDL |
| 4 July 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | SANDIA |
| 4 July 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | BERNIE |
| 4 July 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | NORTH |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
7 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 7 workings within 5 miles of Paradise Hills: 3 past producers, 2 unknowns, 1 occurrence, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Pumice, Volcanic Materials. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name Unknown Scoria Deposit | Volcanic Materials | Occurrence | Scoria | |
| 9700 North Second Plant | Pumice | Unknown | ||
| Utility Block Co. Plant | Pumice | 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 | ||
| Unnamed Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
20 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Paradise Hills in 20 storm reports between 2000 and 2025: 8 hail, 6 flash flood, 5 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. The reports record 1 death. 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 2025 | Flash Flood | Paradise Hills | 1 killed | Flash flooding in the Albuquerque arroyo channel system resulted in a fatality. The body was first spotted in the Hahn Arroyo near Pennsylvania Ave. in northeast Albuquerque before the deceased body was retrieved in the arroyo washout pond at the end of the North Diversion Channel near 4th Street and Edith Blvd. in the North Valley. |
| October 2004 | Hail | Paradise Hills | $4,000,000 | no account filed |
| September 2013 | Flash Flood | Paradise Hills | $60,000 | A mud slide up to 3 feet deep flowed into yards, homes, and a street near the Petroglyph National Monument Open Space. |
| July 2013 | Flash Flood | Paradise Hills | $20,000 | Heavy rain on Albuquerque's West-side led to street flooding with some vehicles partially submerged on the side of roads. |
| May 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paradise Hills | $7,000 | Thunderstorm winds destroyed a carport constructed of corrugated sheet metal secured to a wooden frame. Part of the carport landed on a pickup truck, causing damage to it. The damage occurred in northwest Albuquerque near the intersection of Pequeno and 2nd Street. |
| July 2013 | Flash Flood | Paradise Hills | $5,000 | Southbound Coors closed from Irving to Paseo del Norte, one car stuck in water. AMAFCA official reported that a small private pond adjacent to the shopping center parking lot at Coors and Paseo overtopped. From the air, it looked like water flowed across Coors and then across the off ramp from westbound Paseo, then next to the pond at the northeast corner of Paseo and Coors. Some water made it up the emergency spillway and ran into the pond and then into the Corrales Main Canal, causing large erosions in the area. |
| May 2025 | Hail | Paradise Hills | - | Video of broadcast media showed hailstones of a quarter to ping-pong ball size around Cottonwood Mall. |
| September 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paradise Hills | - | A 58 mph wind gust was observed on the West Mesa of Albuquerque along the leading edge of a line of thunderstorms. |
| September 2023 | Flash Flood | Paradise Hills | - | A video shared on social media by the local media showed that heavy rain caused a waterfall over a hillside below the Petroglyph National Monument. A cul-de-sac near Taylor Ranch was also inundated with hail and heavy rainfall. |
| May 2021 | Hail | Paradise Hills | - | A trained spotter near Coors Bypass in northwest Albuquerque reported 1 inch hail from a severe thunderstorm moving eastward through the metro area. |
| February 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paradise Hills | - | Albuquerque's first thunderstorm of the year brought very strong winds to the metro area as well as pea size hail. A mesonet station on the northwest side of Albuquerque recorded a 62 mph wind gust. |
| May 2021 | Hail | Paradise Hills | - | A CoCoRaHS observer near Ellison and Golf Course in northwest Albuquerque reported penny size hail from a severe thunderstorm moving eastward through the metro area. |
| August 2020 | Tornado (EF0) | Paradise Hills | - | A brief landspout tornado was observed over far northwest Albuquerque on a rural mesa. No damage was observed. |
| April 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paradise Hills | - | A five inch tree limb was snapped from a Cottonwood tree at an apartment complex near Alameda and Ellison. A large yucca cactus was also toppled on the west side of Albuquerque. |
| May 2017 | Hail | Paradise Hills | - | Dime to nickel size hail near NM-528 and Corrales Road. |
| June 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Paradise Hills | - | Tree blown over at home in Taylor Ranch. |
| July 2013 | Flash Flood | Paradise Hills | - | Water up to the doors of vehicles on Alameda westbound from Rio Grande Rd. to Coors. Report of a truck stuck in the water. |
| October 2008 | Hail | Paradise Hills | - | no account filed |
| October 2008 | Hail | Paradise Hills | - | no account filed |
| October 2000 | Hail | Paradise Hills | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taylor Ranch | 2.4 miles | 21 | |
| Los Ranchos de Albuquerque | 4.1 miles | 21 | |
| Alameda | 4.5 miles | 22 | |
| North Valley | 4.5 miles | 22 | |
| Lee Acres | 4.6 miles | 21 | |
| Los Griegos | 5.0 miles | 21 | |
| Los Candelarias | 5.7 miles | 23 | |
| Hahn | 6.0 miles | 21 |
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 Paradise Hills | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q6060798 | 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 899835. 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.












