San Rafael, New Mexico
19 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1883 and the latest in 1995. It stands in the Grants census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87051. It lies near Morada Canyon. The Survey maps it on the San Rafael quadrangle. 1,164 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 6,470 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresSan Rafael grew from 933 to 1,164 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 | 933 | |
| 2020 | 1,164 | +231 (+25%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 19 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.
- 1883 USGS Mt. Taylor quadrangle1:250000
- 1886 USGS Mt. Taylor quadrangle1:250000
- 1892 USGS Mt. Taylor quadrangle1:250000
- 1899 USGS Mt. Taylor quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1957 USGS San Rafael quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Albuquerque quadrangle1:250000
- 1962 USGS Albuquerque quadrangle1:250000
- 1963 USGS Albuquerque quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1978 USGS Grants quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
- 1983 USGS Albuquerque quadrangle1:250000
- 1995 USGS San Rafael quadrangle1:24000
Fires near this place
20 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 20 fires within 5 miles of San Rafael between 1994 and 2020, burning about 62 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 | 8 |
| Debris and open burning | 6 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Smoking | 3 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 September 2011 | Natural | 1.0 acres | Cibola National Forest | RINCONADA |
| 14 September 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Southern Pueblos Agency | TRANSFER |
| 26 August 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Albuquerque District Office | COLLEGE |
| 26 July 2004 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Albuquerque District Office | TOWER |
| 20 July 1998 | Natural | under an acre | Cibola National Forest | MORRO |
| 15 July 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | PILE |
| 8 June 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Albuquerque District Office | THE 85 |
| 4 June 1994 | Smoking | under an acre | El Malpais National Monument | JUNIPER |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
8 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 8 workings within 5 miles of San Rafael: 4 producers, 3 unknowns, 1 past producer. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Limestone, Dimension, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valencia | Gold, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Marinelli Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Materials Pit 57-127-F | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Roadway Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Hamilton Pit | Limestone, Dimension | Producer | ||
| Materials Pit 57-83-S | Limestone, Dimension | Unknown | ||
| Materials Pit 67-31-S | Limestone, Dimension | Unknown | ||
| Materials Pit 70-16-S | Limestone, Dimension | Unknown |
Storms near this place
8 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names San Rafael in 8 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 6 hail, 1 funnel cloud, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2025 | Flash Flood | San Rafael | - | Slow moving thunderstorms resulted in flash flooding and rushing water across NM Highway 117 near El Malpais National Monument. The highway was temporarily closed during this time until flood waters fully receded. |
| August 2013 | Funnel Cloud | San Rafael | - | A ranger at the El Malpais National Monument reported funnel clouds near La Ventana arch. |
| August 2013 | Hail | San Rafael | - | no account filed |
| August 2013 | Hail | San Rafael | - | no account filed |
| August 2013 | Hail | San Rafael | - | no account filed |
| October 2010 | Hail | San Rafael | - | no account filed |
| September 2009 | Hail | San Rafael | - | no account filed |
| September 1997 | Hail | San Rafael | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grants | 2.9 miles | 20 | |
| Milan | 4.0 miles | 20 | |
| Golden Acres | 6.9 miles | 20 | |
| Toltec | 7.2 miles | 20 | |
| Broadview | 8.1 miles | 20 | |
| Anzac | 8.8 miles | 18 | |
| Lobo Canyon | 11.0 miles | 20 | |
| Paxton Springs (historical) | 11.0 miles | 22 |
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 San Rafael | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q4957306 | 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 923685. 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.










