New Mexico Fun Facts
Information About New Mexico, New Mexico Geography,
and New Mexico Schools

New Mexico's state capital is Santa Fe and the largest city is Albuquerque. Residents of New Mexico are often referred to as "New Mexicans."

New Mexico is unofficially nicknamed "The Land of Enchantment." The state song is "O, Fair New Mexico." The name of this state is an anglicized version of "Nuevo Mexico," the Spanish name for the upper Rio Grande. Mexico, an Aztec spelling, means "place of Mexitli" one of the Aztec gods.

New Mexico is ranked 36th in population and received its statehood on January 6, 1912.

Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah are bordering states to New Mexico. The Rio Grande is the major body of water associated with New Mexico.

There were 332,632 K12 students in the New Mexico public schools in 1996. Out of those students 26,283 were first grade students. There were also 19,971 k12 public school teachers in the New Mexico public schools system. There were a total of 732 New Mexico public schools in 1996. (Source: IES National Center for Education Statistics)