Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Quay County’s population dropped from 8,381 in 2016 to 8,306 in 2017, a total drop of 64 or about 0.9 percent, according to U.S. Census estimates released on May 24.
Its county seat, Tucumcari, saw its population drop from 4,962 to 4,915, by 47 or nearly 1 percent, in the same period, the census estimates showed.
Since 2010, Quay County has lost 8.1 percent of its population and Tucumcari’s population has declined 8.4 percent. The county’s 2010 population was 9,041, and the city’s was 6,363, according to the estimates.
Also, according to the estimates released on May 24:
Curry and Roosevelt counties experienced slight decreases in population between 2016 and 2017, as did their largest cities, Clovis and Portales, respectively.
Curry County and Clovis, however, both show higher populations in 2017 than in 2010. Roosevelt County and Portales, however show population decreases between 2010 and 2017.
Curry County: Population dipped from 50,168 in 2016 to 49,812, a decrease of 356 residents or about 0.7 percent. Clovis’s population declined from 39,216 in 2016 to 38,902 in 2017, a decrease of 254 residents, again about 0.7 percent.
Since 2010, however, Curry County’s population has grown by just under 3 percent from its 2010 level of 48,376, while Clovis has grown by just over 3 percent from its 2010 population of 37,775.
Roosevelt County: The 2017 population represented a drop of 999 residents from its 2010 population of 19,846. Portales’ 2017 population, meanwhile was 430 residents or 3.5 percent lower than its 2010 level of 12,280.
Guadalupe County: Quay County’s neighbor, and its largest city, Santa Rosa, registered population increases of more than 1 percent between 2016 and 2017. Both the city and county registered increases of about 1.3 percent.
Santa Rosa’s population gained a total of 34, from 2,677 to 2,711, between 2016 and 2017, while the county’s population grew by 57, from 4,372 to 4,429 in the same period.
Guadalupe and Santa Rosa populations are significantly below their levels in 2010, the year of the last official U.S. Census.
The county showed a population of 4,687 in 2010, more than 200 more than in 2017. The city’s 2010 population was 2,848, which was 137 more than in 2017. The 2017 population for the county was 5.5 percent lower in 2017 than in 2010. The city’s 2017 population was 4.8 percent below its 2010 count.
Union County: The county saw its population grow by 34 people, or 0.8 percent, from 2016 to 2017. Its 2016 population was 4,153. It was 4,187 in 2017. Its 2017 population, however, was 362, or 8 percent, lower than its 2010 level of 4,549.
San Miguel County: Neighbor San Miguel County’s population dropped from 27,965 to 27,748, a total of 217, or about 0.7 percent. Las Vegas, its county seat, saw its population drop from 13,312 to 13,201, a total of 111 or about 0.8 percent.
The county has lost 5.6 percent of its population since 2010 and Las Vegas has lost 4 percent of its residents since that year.
De Baca County: The population of DeBaca County, another Quay neighbor, fell by 19, from 1,841 to 1,820 from 2016 to 2017. Fort Sumner, its county seat, experienced a loss of seven, from 940 to 933. Both losses are about 0.7 percent.
Both the county and Fort Sumner have experienced losses of about 9.5 percent of their population since 2010.
Harding County: Quay County’s northern neighbor held steady at 692 from 2016 to 2017. That is only three less than its 2010 population of 695.
The state’s population grew from 2,085,432 to 2,088,070 from 2016 to 2017, growing by 2,638 residents or a little more than 0.1 percent. Since 2010, New Mexico’s population has increased by 1.4 percent.
The U.S. population grew from 323,405,935 in 2016 to 325,719,178 in 2017, a total of 2,313,243, or 0.72 percent. Since 2010, the U.S. population has grown by about 17 million or 5.5 percent.