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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.

Paradise Hills within Bernalillo County

Population over time

2 figures

Paradise 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.

YearPeople Change
20104,256
20204,329+73 (+2%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

13 surveys from 21 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

41 since 1993

Regional 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/undetermined28
Debris and open burning4
Natural3
Fireworks2
Arson/incendiarism2
Equipment and vehicle use1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
29 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouthern Pueblos AgencySHADY
1 August 1993Missing data/not specified/undetermined3.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionEAGLE
5 July 1998Fireworksunder an acrePetroglyph National MonumentMARSH-GT22
5 July 1993Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionERINE
5 July 1993Missing data/not specified/undetermined7.5 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionLDL
4 July 1993Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionSANDIA
4 July 1993Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionBERNIE
4 July 1993Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionNORTH

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Bernalillo County

Mines and quarries near this place

7 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Name Unknown Scoria DepositVolcanic MaterialsOccurrenceScoria
9700 North Second PlantPumiceUnknown
Utility Block Co. PlantPumiceProducer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Unnamed PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown

Every working recorded in Bernalillo County

Storms near this place

20 since 2000

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2025Flash FloodParadise Hills1 killedFlash 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 2004HailParadise Hills$4,000,000no account filed
September 2013Flash FloodParadise Hills$60,000A mud slide up to 3 feet deep flowed into yards, homes, and a street near the Petroglyph National Monument Open Space.
July 2013Flash FloodParadise Hills$20,000Heavy rain on Albuquerque's West-side led to street flooding with some vehicles partially submerged on the side of roads.
May 2008Thunderstorm WindParadise Hills$7,000Thunderstorm 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 2013Flash FloodParadise Hills$5,000Southbound 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 2025HailParadise Hills-Video of broadcast media showed hailstones of a quarter to ping-pong ball size around Cottonwood Mall.
September 2025Thunderstorm WindParadise Hills-A 58 mph wind gust was observed on the West Mesa of Albuquerque along the leading edge of a line of thunderstorms.
September 2023Flash FloodParadise 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 2021HailParadise 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 2021Thunderstorm WindParadise 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 2021HailParadise 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 2020Tornado (EF0)Paradise Hills-A brief landspout tornado was observed over far northwest Albuquerque on a rural mesa. No damage was observed.
April 2018Thunderstorm WindParadise 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 2017HailParadise Hills-Dime to nickel size hail near NM-528 and Corrales Road.
June 2016Thunderstorm WindParadise Hills-Tree blown over at home in Taylor Ranch.
July 2013Flash FloodParadise 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 2008HailParadise Hills-no account filed
October 2008HailParadise Hills-no account filed
October 2000HailParadise Hills-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Bernalillo County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Taylor Ranch2.4 miles21
Los Ranchos de Albuquerque4.1 miles21
Alameda4.5 miles22
North Valley4.5 miles22
Lee Acres4.6 miles21
Los Griegos5.0 miles21
Los Candelarias5.7 miles23
Hahn6.0 miles21

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 HillsAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6060798The 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.