Socorro County
New Mexico · County seat: Socorro · Active county or equivalent
FIPS code 35053 is Socorro County, New Mexico. With a population of 16,453 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #22 in New Mexico and #2064 nationally. 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
35053
Population
16,453
2022 ACS · #2064 nationally
Density
2.5/mi²
people per sq mile
Land Area
6,647
sq miles
Urban/Rural
Nonmetro — urban 2.5K–19.9K, adjacent to metro
RUCC 6
How This FIPS Code Works
The 5-digit FIPS code 35053 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 35 (New Mexico) with the 3-digit county identifier 053. Together they uniquely identify Socorro County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.
Census ACS Data for FIPS 35053
From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 35053.
Median Household Income
$40,699
ACS B19013_001E
Poverty Rate
30.5%
ACS B17001 (below poverty level)
Median Age
39.6
ACS B01002_001E
Adjacent Counties (6)
Counties that share a border with Socorro County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 35053.
Federal Datasets Using Code 35053
FIPS code 35053 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 35053 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:053",
"in": "state:35",
"key": "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json() # [[header...], [Socorro County, New Mexico, income, pop, ...]
-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '35053';
-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '35'
AND county_fips = '053';
-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 35053 is WRONG for this county
library(tidycensus)
get_acs(
geography = "county",
variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
state = "35",
county = "053",
year = 2022
)
ZIP Codes in Socorro 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 Socorro County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →
| ZIP Code | % in county |
|---|---|
| 87832 | 100.0% |
| 87028 | 100.0% |
| 87801 | 100.0% |
| 87823 | 100.0% |
| 87828 | 100.0% |
| 87831 | 100.0% |
| 87062 | 99.4% |
| 87006 | 95.8% |
| 87011 | 72.3% |
| 87825 | 67.5% |
| 87036 | 37.6% |
| 87943 | 37.2% |
| 88301 | 2.3% |
| 87002 | 0.2% |