Otero County
New Mexico · County seat: Alamogordo · Active county or equivalent
FIPS code 35035 is Otero County, New Mexico. With a population of 67,850 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #9 in New Mexico and #792 nationally. Otero County is part of the Alamogordo, NM. The state FIPS code for New Mexico is 35. This code is used in Census Bureau, BLS, EPA, HUD, and USDA federal datasets to identify this county.
County FIPS
35035
Population
67,850
2022 ACS · #792 nationally
Density
10.3/mi²
people per sq mile
Land Area
6,613
sq miles
Urban/Rural
Nonmetro — urban 20K+, adjacent to metro
RUCC 4
How This FIPS Code Works
The 5-digit FIPS code 35035 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 35 (New Mexico) with the 3-digit county identifier 035. Together they uniquely identify Otero County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.
Census ACS Data for FIPS 35035
From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 35035.
Median Household Income
$50,833
ACS B19013_001E
Poverty Rate
19.4%
ACS B17001 (below poverty level)
Median Age
35.9
ACS B01002_001E
Metropolitan Area
Adjacent Counties (8)
Counties that share a border with Otero County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 35035.
Federal Datasets Using Code 35035
FIPS code 35035 appears as the county identifier in the following federal datasets. Analysts joining data across these sources use this code as the common geographic key.
Using FIPS Code 35035 in Code
Common patterns for querying federal datasets by this county's FIPS code. The leading zeros are significant — always treat FIPS codes as strings, not integers.
import requests
url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
"get": "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
"for": "county:035",
"in": "state:35",
"key": "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json() # [[header...], [Otero County, New Mexico, income, pop, ...]
-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '35035';
-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '35'
AND county_fips = '035';
-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 35035 is WRONG for this county
library(tidycensus)
get_acs(
geography = "county",
variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
state = "35",
county = "035",
year = 2022
)
ZIP Codes in Otero County
ZIP codes do not align perfectly with county boundaries — a single ZIP code can span multiple counties, and a county can contain parts of many ZIP codes. The ratios below (from the Census 2020 ZCTA relationship file) show the land area share of each ZCTA that falls within Otero County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →
| ZIP Code | % in county |
|---|---|
| 88349 | 100.0% |
| 88350 | 100.0% |
| 88310 | 100.0% |
| 88311 | 100.0% |
| 88314 | 100.0% |
| 88317 | 100.0% |
| 88325 | 100.0% |
| 88330 | 100.0% |
| 88337 | 100.0% |
| 88354 | 100.0% |
| 88340 | 100.0% |
| 88342 | 100.0% |
| 88352 | 100.0% |
| 88347 | 100.0% |
| 88081 | 89.7% |
| 79837 | 81.7% |
| 88344 | 69.8% |
| 88339 | 40.6% |