Santa Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe, New Mexico, is both the nation's oldest and highest state capital, as it was founded in 1610 and sits at 6,996 feet above sea level. It also serves as the seat of Santa Fe County. Built on a Tiwa pueblo site in the north-central part of the state, it is steeped in the history of Spanish and Mexican conquest. The city is also considered the oldest European community located west of the Mississippi River. Santa Fe lured such renowned artists as Georgia O'Keeffe and Ansel Adams with its high desert beauty. The city serves as the southwest's cultural center, enhanced by its natural and architectural beauties. The city has remained the capital under four flags—Spain, Mexico, the Confederacy, and the United States—and celebrated its 400th anniversary in 2010.

Landscape

Santa Fe is located at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the northern Rio Grande valley. Due east is the Santa Fe National Forest, which covers more than 1.5 million acres of national forest. The mountains make Santa Fe a popular downhill winter ski area.

Each year, Santa Fe can expect over 300 mostly sunny days, which exceeds the national average. On the other hand, the number of thunderstorms annually is also higher than the national average.

Located on a high desert plateau, the city receives less than 15 inches of rain annually and about 32 inches of snow. Such rain as does arrive tends to fall in the greatest amounts during the months of July, August, and September. Frost is possible from October until May.

The average mean temperature in January is 30 degrees Fahrenheit. July's average mean temperature is 70.5 degrees Fahrenheit. The city has a low humidity, creating the possibility of cool evenings even in summer.

Like much of the country, Santa Fe has been impacted by climate change. The city has seen higher temperatures and is at higher risk of floods and fires.

People

In 2024, the US Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) estimated Santa Fe's population was 90,553. An estimated 50.5 percent of the people are female and 49.5 percent are male. About 33.6 percent of Santa Fe's population five years of age and up speaks a language other than English at home.

In 2024, people who identified as White comprised 43.2 percent of the population. About 49.8 percent of Santa Fe's population identified as Hispanic or Latino. The remaining populations include Black or African American (1.1 percent), American Indian or Alaskan Native (0.7 percent), and Asian (2.1 percent).

Economy

The government—state, county, and city—accounts for the greatest number of workers. Other important industries include healthcare and social assistance, leisure and hospitality, education and health services, and trade, transportation, and utilities.

Scientific research is also a major player in the economy. Santa Fe is only 45 miles from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and many of its employees live in Santa Fe. One of the country's largest research labs, LANL is operated by the University of California for the US Department of Energy. Originally noted for its work on the atomic bomb, LANL now focuses on projects related not only to defense but also to energy and environmental concerns. Spinoff corporations have also created jobs in Santa Fe.

Goods produced in Santa Fe include aluminum ware, art, electronic instruments, Indigenous arts and crafts, pumice products, textiles, and weavings.

Because Santa Fe's economy is mainly driven by small businesses rather than large corporations, the city has a business incubator to stimulate economic growth. The Santa Fe Business Incubator, a nonprofit organization, aids new businesses with all start-up aspects. Another related venture is the Small Business Development Center.

Because service industry jobs tend to pay less, the city passed a living wage ordinance in 2003 in light of low wages and a higher-than-average cost of living. As of 2025, the city's living wage was $15 per hour.

Landmarks

Among the more than 250 art galleries, museums, and attractions in Santa Fe, several stand out. The internationally known Santa Fe Opera also offers backstage tours and prelude talks to inform patrons more about the opera they will hear.

The Palace of the Governors is the oldest continuously occupied public building in the nation. It became a Registered National Historic Landmark in 1960 and was declared an American Treasure in 1999. It now houses the New Mexico History Museum, which opened in 2009 after twenty years of planning and construction.

The Loretto Chapel, constructed from 1873 to 1878, is the city's oldest stone masonry building. The stone used to make the building, which is now a private museum, was quarried in the local area. Visitors come to see the Miraculous Staircase, a spiral structure that does not have a support beam and was made without nails (instead, wooden pegs were used). According to legend, it was built or inspired by St. Joseph, who was a carpenter. The stained glass of the chapel was imported from Paris, journeying by sail to New Orleans. It traveled from there by paddleboat to St. Louis, coming the rest of the way by covered wagon over the Old Santa Fe Trail.

The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum, which opened in 1997, is dedicated entirely to the life and work of Georgia O'Keeffe. It is one of the few art museums in the world devoted to a single internationally acclaimed female artist. The museum contains more than one thousand of O'Keeffe's works, making it the largest collection of her art in the world. O'Keeffe, who lived from 1887 until 1986, painted in nearby Abiquiu and at Ghost Ranch.

Scattered in the region between Santa Fe and Colorado are the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos. Some are as near as 10 miles away, others as far as nearly 70 miles. Tesuque Pueblo is on the National Register of Historic Places and has existed since the thirteenth century. Most of these peoples are known for their pottery; each site hosts annual events and commemorative feast days.

The annual Santa Fe Indian Market draws hundreds of thousands of people each August to downtown Santa Fe. Featuring Native American craftspeople from more than two hundred tribes, it is widely regarded as the largest Indigenous art market in the world. The event also includes live performances, cultural demonstrations, and food vendors.

History

Pueblo Indians founded several villages in the area between 1050 and 1150. Within 200 years they had been abandoned. Still, in the early seventeenth century, about 100,000 Native Americans (representing nine different language groups) lived in the region.

The Spanish arrived in New Mexico from Mexico in 1539 in quest of wealth and converts to Christianity. Settlement began in 1598 when Juan de Oñate, a wealthy mine owner and merchant in New Spain, became the first governor of the colony. That same year, the El Camino Real ("The Royal Road") was finished, linking Mexico City and Santa Fe.

In 1610, the Spanish government appointed Pedro de Peralta as New Mexico's leader. He relocated the capital to the upper Rio Grande, a settlement he called Santa Fe, from San Gabriel.

Native Americans and Spanish settlers existed together peacefully, but only for a time. When Spanish priests tried to force conversions to Christianity, Native Americans, under the leadership of a shaman named Popé, rebelled in 1680. Following his success, Popé ruled as a dictator and attempted to remove all evidence of Spanish rule. The accord among various Native American groups crumbled by 1692, however, and the Spanish regained control of Santa Fe by 1694.

The Spanish ultimately ruled the empire as a closed state until 1821. They permitted trade only with French, British, or American traders.

In 1821, Mexico gained its independence from Spain, making New Mexico a part of the Mexican Republic. That year, William Becknell and other traders traveled from Missouri to New Mexico on a rugged 800-mile trail. This marked the beginning of the Santa Fe Trail, now part of the National Park Service. The trail ended at the Palace of the Governors, currently the Museum of New Mexico's headquarters. In 1850, when New Mexico officially became a US territory, a stagecoach line began along the route. It became one of the key trails to Mexico and the West.

In 1806, while exploring the Southwest, Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike was imprisoned in Santa Fe. His reports of the area increased interest from the US. In the grip of Manifest Destiny rhetoric, the country wanted to expand its land. A few decades after Pike's report, US forces marched across New Mexico's undefended northern border and took possession of the region, marking the first time the US had taken over a foreign capital.

This 1846 action sparked the Mexican-American War, which ended two years later with New Mexico and other lands being ceded to the US through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Santa Fe became the capital of the Territory of New Mexico in 1851.

Santa Fe again became a center of conflict during the Civil War, when Texan soldiers captured it. They held it for only two weeks, however.

Despite economic growth after the arrival of the railroad in 1880, the region was noted for corruption and lawlessness. Billy the Kid threatened the territorial governor, Lew Wallace, sent by President Rutherford B. Hayes to maintain order. The outlaw failed in his attempts, and Wallace completed his novel, Ben Hur, while serving as governor from 1877 to 1881.

Cattle ranching became an important economic venture in the late nineteenth century. Working ranches are now one of the many tourist attractions.

In 1912, New Mexico became the forty-seventh state, with Santa Fe remaining as its capital. The dry climate of the city beckoned those with tuberculosis. Later, artists and writers, among them Ansel Adams, D. H. Lawrence, and Georgia O'Keeffe, came to the area and created art colonies in and around the city. Santa Fe is still recognized as a haven for artists, with more than 200 art galleries.

During World War II, the railroad line ended its long run. The demand for metal was so large that a great deal of track went for scrap. Now the city is constructing a digital communication network. Nicknaming itself "The City Different," Santa Fe put in place housing regulations to preserve the Pueblo and Territorial adobe architectural styles in 1958.

Trivia

• New Mexico is one of only two states whose constitution recognizes two official languages, English and Spanish.
• The full name of the new capital was La Villa Real de Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis--the Royal City of the Holy Faith of St. Francis of Assisi.
• The Roundhouse, as the state capitol building is known, is the only round capitol. It opened in 1966, the state's fourth building to serve as the capitol.
• Santa Fe was designated as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Creative City in 2005.

Bibliography

"ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates." US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, ACS 1-Year Estimates Data Profiles, Table DP05, 2024, data.census.gov/table/ACSDP1Y2024.DP05?q=Santa+Fe+city,+New+Mexico. Accessed on 18 Nov 2025.

"Living Wage Information." City of Santa Fe, 2025, santafenm.gov/economic-development/business-resources/living-wage-information. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.

“NOWData - NOAA Online Weather Data.” National Weather Service, www.weather.gov/wrh/Climate?wfo=abq. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.

"Santa Fe, NM." US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 24 Oct. 2025, www.bls.gov/eag/eag.nm_santafe_msa.htm. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.

"Santa Fe Weather." Tourism Santa Fe, www.santafe.org/santa-fe-weather/. Accessed 18 Nov. 2025.