Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1979. It stands in the Truth or Consequences East census division. It lies in ZIP code area 87901. The Survey maps it on the Cuchillo quadrangle. 6,052 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 4,245 feet above sea level.
On record in Truth or Consequences
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 3 records
Population over time
2 figuresTruth or Consequences fell from 6,475 to 6,052 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 | 6,475 | |
| 2020 | 6,052 | -423 (-7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 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 Tucson Spring quadrangle1:250000
- 1954 USGS Tularosa quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Tularosa quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1961 USGS Cuchillo quadrangle1:24000
- 1979 USGS Truth or Consequences quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Photographs
8 of 10 photographs shown, 2021Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.
Highsmith, Carol M, 2021. Library of Congress
Highsmith, Carol M, 2021. Library of Congress
Highsmith, Carol M, 2021. Library of Congress
Highsmith, Carol M, 2021. Library of Congress
Highsmith, Carol M, 2021. Library of Congress
Highsmith, Carol M, 2021. Library of Congress
Highsmith, Carol M, 2021. Library of Congress
Highsmith, Carol M, 2021. Library of Congress
Every photograph of Sierra County
Fires near this place
20 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 20 fires within 5 miles of Truth or Consequences between 1993 and 2017, burning about 135 acres in total. 1 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 | 15 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 2 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 August 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | MM73 I-25 |
| 10 August 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | MIMS |
| 9 July 2017 | Natural | under an acre | Cibola National Forest | SAND TANK |
| 30 June 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | ELPHIE |
| 25 June 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.3 acres | New Mexico State Forestry Division | COOL |
| 24 June 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | MM97 |
| 1 June 2000 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | WHETZEL |
| 1 June 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | New Mexico State Forestry Division | FISH |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 54 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 54 workings within 5 miles of Truth or Consequences: 29 past producers, 12 prospects, 6 unknowns, 5 producers. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Manganese, Fluorine-Fluorite, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Barium-Barite. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashland | Selenium | Prospect | ||
| Black Jack Group | Manganese, Tungsten | Past Producer | 1939, 1942, 1958 | |
| Blue Jacket Prospect | Fluorine-Fluorite, Barium-Barite, Silica | Past Producer | ||
| Dredge Tailings 3 | Gold | Unknown | ||
| Equator and Iron Reef Group | Copper, Silver | Past Producer | ||
| Forty-One Claim | Fluorine-Fluorite, Manganese | Past Producer | 1952 | |
| Illinois Group | Fluorine-Fluorite, Lead, Barium-Barite | Producer | 1918, 1953 | |
| Oakland Vein | Barium-Barite, Calcium, Fluorine-Fluorite | Past Producer | 1924, 1926 | |
| Tingley Prospect | Fluorine-Fluorite, Copper | Occurrence | Fluorite | |
| Tingley Prospect | Calcium, Copper, Fluorine-Fluorite | Prospect |
Storms near this place
7 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Truth or Consequences in 7 storm reports between 2000 and 2006: 3 flash flood, 3 hail, 1 heavy rain. 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 2006 | Flash Flood | Truth Or Consequences | $80,000 | Major street flooding was reported in Truth or Consequences, with the downtown area and points east hardest hit. Water entered businesses and the high school causing damage. |
| September 2004 | Hail | Truth Or Consequences | $10,000 | Hail accumulated to 4 inches on Interstate 25 south of Truth or Consequences, leading to multiple vehicle accidents. The largest hail reported by NMDOT was golf ball size. |
| June 2000 | Flash Flood | Truth Or Consequences | $10,000 | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Flash Flood | Truth Or Consequences | $5,000 | A thunderstorm brought about 3 inches of rain, most of it falling within an hour, which resulted in major street flooding and some road wash outs. Highway 51 east of town had to be closed. |
| August 2004 | Heavy Rain | Truth Or Consequences | - | Two inches of rain fell within 70 minutes (one inch in 20 minutes) and caused street flooding throughout Truth or Consequences. Not far to the south, runoff from heavy rain led to a brief closure of NM 152 between Caballo and Hillsboro. |
| June 2006 | Hail | Truth Or Consequences | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Truth Or Consequences | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Williamsburg | 2.3 miles | 11 | |
| Elephant Butte | 3.9 miles | 14 | |
| Elephant Butte Estates | 4.7 miles | 14 | |
| Las Palomas | 5.1 miles | 11 | |
| Hot Springs Landing | 5.9 miles | 14 | |
| Rock Canyon | 7.0 miles | 14 | |
| Cuchillo | 9.4 miles | 9 | |
| Caballo | 10.9 miles | 9 |
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 Truth or Consequences | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q431932 | 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 897496. 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.







