Peñasco, New Mexico
11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Picuris census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87553. It stands on Rio Chiquito. The Survey maps it on the Penasco quadrangle. 474 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 7,644 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresPeñasco fell from 589 to 474 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 | 589 | |
| 2020 | 474 | -115 (-20%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 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 Raton quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Raton quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1964 USGS Penasco quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1983 USGS Taos quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1995 USGS Penasco quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
112 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 112 fires within 5 miles of Peñasco between 1992 and 2020, burning about 423 acres in total. 46 started naturally. 6 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 46 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 27 |
| Debris and open burning | 19 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 6 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 3 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Smoking | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Carson National Forest | RIO CHIQUITO |
| 9 August 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Carson National Forest | AMOLE |
| 9 August 1995 | Natural | under an acre | Carson National Forest | OJITO |
| 8 August 2003 | Natural | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | LIANO |
| 8 August 2000 | Natural | 6.0 acres | Carson National Forest | MICA |
| 7 August 2016 | Natural | under an acre | Cimarron District | UPPER LLANO |
| 4 August 2005 | Natural | under an acre | Carson National Forest | LLANO |
| 4 August 1992 | Recreation and ceremony | under an acre | Carson National Forest | not named |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
9 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Peñasco: 5 past producers, 3 producers, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Mica, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Materials Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Materials Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Materials Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Materials Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| M.I.C.A. Mine | Mica | Producer | Metamorphic | |
| Taos Mill | Mica | Unknown | ||
| Tojo | Mica | Producer | ||
| Tojo Mine | Mica | Producer | 1954 | |
| U. S. Hill Mine | Mica | Past Producer |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rodarte | 1.4 miles | 11 | |
| Vadito | 1.7 miles | 11 | |
| Llano | 2.0 miles | 11 | |
| Llano Largo | 2.5 miles | 11 | |
| Ojito | 2.5 miles | 11 | |
| Picuris Pueblo | 2.5 miles | 11 | |
| Chamisal | 2.7 miles | 11 | |
| Rio Lucio | 2.7 miles | 11 |
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 Peñasco | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2605951 | 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 909544. 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.




