McKinley County area

Population and density of McKinley County

The Census Bureau estimates that 68,119 people lived in McKinley County on July 1, 2025. That ranks #815 of 3,222 county equivalents nationally and #9 of 33 in New Mexico. Since the April 1, 2020 estimates base of 72,881, the population has declined by 4,762 (−6.5%), compared with +0.4% for New Mexico as a whole.

With 5,451.1 square miles of land, that is 12 people per square mile (4.8 per km²), placing McKinley County #2,558 nationally for density and #12 in New Mexico. The median county equivalent has 47 people per square mile; the New Mexico median is 6.9. Put another way, there are about 51 acres of land per resident.

U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2025 population estimates. Estimates are revised each year and are not decennial census counts. Density divides the whole population by the whole county’s land area, so it describes an average, not how settlement is distributed within the county. Population sources and methods.

Cities and towns in McKinley County

1 incorporated place lies at least partly in McKinley County. Together they are home to 19,969 people (29.3%); the other 48,150 (70.7%) live outside any incorporated place, in unincorporated communities and rural areas.

The largest is Gallup city, with 19,969 residents in the county.

Metropolitan area

McKinley County is a central county of the Gallup, NM Micropolitan Statistical Area. McKinley County is the area’s only county equivalent, so the micro area has the same 5,451.1 square miles of land. By combined land it ranks #17 of 542 micropolitan areas, and #117 by population.

ZIP codes

25 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas have land in McKinley County; 20 of them have most of their land inside the county, and the others mainly cover neighboring areas.

86504865158701387020870458730187305873108731187312873138731687317873198732087321873228732387325873268732787328873478736587375

ZIP Code Tabulation Areas are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code service areas, from the 2020 Census relationship files. Lighter codes have less than half of their land in this county. Post-office-box and single-address ZIP Codes have no tabulation area.

Counties bordering McKinley County

McKinley County shares a land border with 4 county equivalents, including 1 in Arizona. It has more land than 2 of them. The largest neighbor is Apache County (11,198.4 mi²) and the smallest is Sandoval County (3,710.2 mi²). Together with its neighbors, McKinley County forms a block of 30,416.9 mi² of land, of which it holds 17.9%.

How big is McKinley County compared with U.S. states?

McKinley County has more land than 3 of the 50 states. It is about 1.1 times the land area of Connecticut (4,842.5 mi²), while Hawaii, the next larger state, has 1.2 times as much land (6,422.6 mi²). New Mexico’s county land could hold about 22 areas the size of McKinley County.

Another way to picture it: the same land area would fill a square about 73.8 miles (118.8 km) on each side. Real county shapes are rarely square, so this is a scale reference rather than a width or driving distance.

State figures are the sums of each state’s county-equivalent land measurements in the same Census release, so states and counties are compared on the same basis. Published state totals can differ slightly because of rounding. Compare all states · Counties bigger than entire states.

What stands out about McKinley County?

McKinley County has more land than 3,153 of the other 3,221 county equivalents in the dataset.

A median is the middle county-equivalent measurement, not the average of the largest and smallest. All three bars use the same linear scale. Very small areas may appear as a thin sliver; the labels retain their values.

Does including water change its rank?

Using land plus water places McKinley County at #73 nationally by total area, 4 places farther from the top than its land rank. Other county equivalents gain more area when their water measurements are included.

Its water share is 0.1%, compared with a national county-equivalent median of 1.2% — 1.1 percentage points lower. This describes the statistical geography’s land/water mix, not flood exposure or developable land.

Closest positions in the national land ranking

These entries sit immediately beside McKinley County in the national ranking. They can be in different states and are not necessarily geographic neighbors.

Calculated from the same Census release as the area table. Total-area order uses original ALAND + AWATER; water shares and chart labels use published square miles. Calculation details.