County Maps US

Sandoval County, New Mexico

A county in New Mexico, ranked 3 of 33 by population.

CountyFIPS 35043

Within New Mexico
Sandoval County, highlighted, with the areas around it. Boundaries generalised from the 2025 Census cartographic boundary file; neighbour fills carry no data. The dot marks Bernalillo, the county seat, located via the 2025 Census Gazetteer.

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Population
159,565
+10,294 (+6.9%) since 2020
Land area
3,710
square miles. A further 0.1% of the total area is water
Population density
43.0
people per square mile, computed rather than published
County seat
Bernalillo
Seat of county government.
Established
1903
122 years ago
Largest city
Rio Rancho city
Population 114,415 for the whole place, which extends beyond this county.

Sources: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026; US Census Bureau, Gazetteer Files, 2025 Gazetteer Files, released 10 September 2025; Wikidata (CC0), Wikidata. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

Satellite view

Aerial imagery of Sandoval County with its boundary drawn on top. A map shows you the shape; this shows you what is inside it, and which side of the line a place falls on.

Aerial view of Sandoval County, New Mexico from the USGS National Map, with its boundary outlined
Imagery: USGS National Map, USGS Imagery Only, public domain, requested from USGS by your browser when you reach this point on the page, at 800 by 736 pixels. The boundary is the 2025 Census cartographic boundary file, reprojected to Web Mercator to match the imagery. You can also open the USGS National Map viewer.

Where Sandoval County ranks

Position among the 33 counties of New Mexico, and among all 3,144 US counties and county-equivalents. Computed from the figures on this page.

MeasureValueIn New MexicoNationally
Population159,5653rd of 33441st of 3,144
Land area3,710 sq mi18th of 33136th of 3,144
Population density43.0 per sq mi6th of 331,605th of 3,144
Median household income$86,6362nd of 32385th of 3,143

Full data for Sandoval County

Every figure below is attributed to the Census Bureau product it came from, with the vintage of that product.
MeasureValueSource and vintage
Population159,565Vintage 2025 Population Estimates
Population in 2020149,271Vintage 2025 Population Estimates
2020 estimates base?148,833Vintage 2025 Population Estimates
Land area3,710 sq mi2025 Gazetteer Files
Water area4.2 sq mi2025 Gazetteer Files
Total area3,714 sq mi2025 Gazetteer Files
Population density?43.0 per sq miComputed: Vintage 2025 estimates divided by 2025 Gazetteer land area
Median household income$86,636American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Median home value$313,800American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Median age41.3American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Households56,895American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates
Housing units60,925American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates

Sources: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026; US Census Bureau, Gazetteer Files, 2025 Gazetteer Files, released 10 September 2025; US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-Year Estimates, released 29 January 2026. Population density is computed here, not published: it divides the Vintage 2025 population estimate by the 2025 Gazetteer land area, which are two different Census products. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

How the population changed

The Census Bureau publishes the components behind an estimate, not just the total. For the year to July 2025:

Births minus deaths
-186
1,257 births, 1,443 deaths
Net migration
+2,162
More people moved in than moved out.

Source: US Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Population Estimates, released 26 March 2026. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

The 7 areas bordering Sandoval County

Ordered by the length of the border actually shared, which the Census Bureau publishes in its county adjacency file and which no other county reference presents.

Bordering areaStateShared borderPopulation
Rio Arriba CountyNew Mexico95 mi39,832
McKinley CountyNew Mexico66 mi68,119
Bernalillo CountyNew Mexico56 mi667,601
Los Alamos CountyNew Mexico39 mi19,407
Santa Fe CountyNew Mexico39 mi156,907
San Juan CountyNew Mexico15 mi120,340
Cibola CountyNew Mexico10 mi26,807

Source: US Census Bureau, County Adjacency File, 2025 County Adjacency File, released 15 September 2025. Retrieved 30 August 2026.

All 33 counties of New Mexico

Open the interactive New Mexico county map, or jump straight to any of them.

Data on this page last rebuilt 30 August 2026. How these figures are produced.