Bloomfield () is a city in northeastern San Juan County,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, United States. It is part of the Farmington Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 8,112 at the 2010 census. It is on the Trails of the Ancients Byway, one of the designated New Mexico Scenic Byways.Trail of the Ancients.
New Mexico Tourism Department. Retrieved August 14, 2014.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.99%) is water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 6,417 people, 2,222 households, and 1,708 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 2,446 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 62.38%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.33%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 16.71% Native American, 0.34% Asian, 0.06%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 15.96% from other races, and 4.22% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 27.51% of the population. There were 2,222 households, out of which 42.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.9% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 15.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.1% were non-families. 19.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.85 and the average family size was 3.26. In the city, the population was spread out, with 32.4% under the age of 18, 9.7% from 18 to 24, 27.0% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.5 males. The median income for a household in the city was $32,905, and the median income for a family was $34,760. Males had a median income of $29,144 versus $19,203 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $14,424. About 15.2% of families and 14.7% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 18.5% of those under age 18 and 13.6% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Most of the city of Bloomfield and rural areas in eastern/southeastern San Juan County are served by Bloomfield Schools. Bloomfield High School is the local high school. A portion of northern Bloomfield is zoned to Aztec Municipal Schools. Aztec High School is the local high school of that section. Until 1956, all students from Bloomfield went to Aztec High. In 1956, Bloomfield High formed out of the town's junior high school.
Clipping
from

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Points of interest

The Salmon Ruins pueblo and museum are located just to the west of the city along Highway 64. The ruins are the remains of a 12th-century

Anasazi The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as Ancestral Pueblo peoples or the Basketmaker-Pueblo culture, were an ancient Native American culture of Pueblo peoples spanning the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southea ...

village. The ruins, as well as the homestead of George Salmon are open to the public. Other nearby attractions include the Aztec Ruins, about to the north in the town of Aztec, and the

Chaco Culture National Historical Park Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in the American Southwest hosting a large concentration of pre-Columbian indigenous ruins of pueblos. The park is located in northwestern New Mexico, betwee ...

, approximately to the south.

Government

Bloomfield's government consists of four council members elected at large and a mayor. Members of the City Council serve with minimal financial compensation. The current mayor of Bloomfield is Cynthia Atencio.

''Felix v. City of Bloomfield''

In April 2007, Bloomfield attracted attention and some controversy when the city council voted unanimously to erect a stone monument of the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten ...

at the city hall. Two residents sued the city in 2012 "alleging it violated their constitutional rights and represented a government endorsement of religion". In August 2014, a federal judge ruled the monument must be removed.Judge: Ten Commandments monument at New Mexico city hall must be removed; Fox News; August 8, 2014.
/ref> The city's response to the lawsuit was that it was a local group that paid for the memorial and they had added a disclaimer. A district judge decided that a "reasonable observer would interpret the monument as the government endorsing a religion". The

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

became involved and the city asked the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

to hear the case, but was refused. The city owed court fees of $700,000 to the ACLU and the monument was moved to "property owned by a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

church. The city has been looking for outside funds to pay the fee, but in June 2018, it released its 2019 budget which calls for "paying $233,000 toward the money it owes from the ... lawsuit". The city has until 2021 to pay the amount in full.

Hemant Mehta Hemant Mehta (; born February 25, 1983) is an American author, blogger, YouTuber and atheist activist. Mehta is a regular speaker at atheist events, and he has been a board member of charitable organizations such as the Secular Student Alliance ...

stated that the "city officials were goaded by the Christian Right into fighting back. "

References

External links

City of Bloomfield

Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control Cities in New Mexico Cities in San Juan County, New Mexico