BlockBefore

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.

San Rafael within Cibola County

Population over time

2 figures

San 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.

YearPeople Change
2010933
20201,164+231 (+25%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 19 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

20 since 1994

Regional 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/undetermined8
Debris and open burning6
Natural3
Smoking3

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
2 September 2011Natural1.0 acresCibola National ForestRINCONADA
14 September 2000Debris and open burningunder an acreSouthern Pueblos AgencyTRANSFER
26 August 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAlbuquerque District OfficeCOLLEGE
26 July 2004Debris and open burningunder an acreAlbuquerque District OfficeTOWER
20 July 1998Naturalunder an acreCibola National ForestMORRO
15 July 1998Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreNew Mexico State Forestry DivisionPILE
8 June 2000Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreAlbuquerque District OfficeTHE 85
4 June 1994Smokingunder an acreEl Malpais National MonumentJUNIPER

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Cibola County

Mines and quarries near this place

8 within 5 miles

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
ValenciaGold, SilverPast Producer
Marinelli PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Materials Pit 57-127-FSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Roadway PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Hamilton PitLimestone, DimensionProducer
Materials Pit 57-83-SLimestone, DimensionUnknown
Materials Pit 67-31-SLimestone, DimensionUnknown
Materials Pit 70-16-SLimestone, DimensionUnknown

Every working recorded in Cibola County

Storms near this place

8 since 1997

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2025Flash FloodSan 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 2013Funnel CloudSan Rafael-A ranger at the El Malpais National Monument reported funnel clouds near La Ventana arch.
August 2013HailSan Rafael-no account filed
August 2013HailSan Rafael-no account filed
August 2013HailSan Rafael-no account filed
October 2010HailSan Rafael-no account filed
September 2009HailSan Rafael-no account filed
September 1997HailSan Rafael-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Cibola 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
Grants2.9 miles20
Milan4.0 miles20
Golden Acres6.9 miles20
Toltec7.2 miles20
Broadview8.1 miles20
Anzac8.8 miles18
Lobo Canyon11.0 miles20
Paxton Springs (historical)11.0 miles22

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 RafaelAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4957306The 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.