Naco Municipality is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Mexican state The states of Mexico are first-level administrative territorial entities of the country of Mexico, which is officially named Mexico, United Mexican States. There are 32 federal entities in Mexico (31 states and the capital, Mexico City, as a sepa ...

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

in northwestern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

The municipality

As municipal seat, the town of Naco is the governing authority for 128 other localities, most of which have only one or two residents and only two – Cuauhtémoc Ejido (189), and San Pedro (108) have more than eight residents according to the 2010 census. The total municipal population is 6,401 (as of 2010) of whom 6,064 or 94.7% live in the town proper. The municipality has a territory of 651.8 square kilometers and it borders the municipalities of Fronteras, Agua Prieta and Cananea. The United States border is on the north. The area of 1,085 hectares in the municipality is dedicated to agriculture, growing mostly

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as w ...

, beans, corn and animal feed. Farming depends on irrigation from about 25 wells and two small dams. Most livestock here is cattle, which are raised on 162,000 hectares, and whose water needs are met by an additional 36 wells and natural springs. There are facilities that raise calves for export to the United States as well. Industry is based on four

maquiladora A (), or (), is a word that refers to factories that are largely duty free and tariff-free. These factories take raw materials and assemble, manufacture, or process them and export the finished product. These factories and systems are present t ...

s which employ about 700 workers and produce electronics, textiles and rugs, and workshops that produce wood, iron and metal furniture. There is also mining of lime and copper. The most rugged part of the municipality is in the south, in which is the San José mountain range. Other areas are semi flat, with low mountains and mesas. At the western edge is Magallanes mountain range. The main river here is called the Punta de Agua, which begins in the United States and continues on into Agua Prieta. The area has a relatively dry climate with high temperatures averaging 39 °C in the summer and 9 °C in the winter. The rainy season is in the summer with an annual rainfall of about 466.0 millimeters. There are three types of vegetation here. Most of the municipality is arid grassland, with forests at the highest elevations. In some other areas, vegetation is mixed. Wildlife mostly consists of reptiles and amphibians such as the turtle, and the rattlesnake and small mammals such as the bat, the

lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

and

opossum Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 93 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North ...

. There are bird species and some deer as well. Naco is located on the border with Arizona. There are plans to reactivate shipping through this port via the rail line between here and

Benson, Arizona Benson is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, Cochise County, Arizona, United States, east-southeast of Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. It was founded as a rail terminal for the area, and still serves as such. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 c ...

. This project only requires that eight km of rail line be rehabilitated. The goal is to open a new rail port of entry that will connect with Guaymas. In the last election for municipal president, the two principal candidates were tied with 1,274 votes each, prompting an official recount by federal officials.

Adjacent municipalities and counties

* Agua Prieta Municipality – east * Fronteras Municipality – southeast *

Cananea Municipality Cananea is a municipality in the northern portion of the Mexican state of Sonora, on the U.S. border. Its municipal seat is the city of Cananea, located at . Population The population of the municipality of Cananea was 35,892. Most of the popu ...

– southwest and west *

Cochise County, Arizona Cochise County () is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is named after the Native American chief Cochise. The population was 125,447 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Bisbee and the most populous city is ...

– north

References

{{Sonora Municipalities of Sonora