Chaparral is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Doña Ana and Otero counties,

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 ...

. The population was 14,631 at the 2010 census. Chaparral is primarily a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for the neighboring city of

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

, and the neighboring military installations of

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established in 1941 as the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, where the Trinity t ...

and

Fort Bliss Fort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas. Established in 1848, the fort was renamed in 1854 to honor William Wallace Smith Bliss, Bvt.Lieut.Colonel William W.S. Bliss (1815–1853 ...

. It is officially part of the Las Cruces Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

Chaparral is located in the southeast corner of Doña Ana County and the southwest corner of Otero County at (32.039072, −106.429630). Its southern border is the

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

state line, the northern limit of the city of El Paso. Chaparral is geographically isolated from the rest of Doña Ana County due to its location on the east side of the Franklin Mountains. Downtown

is to the south,

in Texas is to the south, and the White Sands Missile Range is to the north. 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 Chaparral CDP has a total area of , all land.

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 6,117 people, 1,837 households, and 1,497 families residing in the CDP. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 2,134 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 70.69%

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 ...

, 1.26%

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 ...

, 1.29% Native American, 0.43% Asian, 0.18%

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 ...

, 21.38% from other races, and 4.77% from two or more races.

Hispanics The term Hispanic () are people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an ethnic or meta-ethnic term. The term commonly appli ...

or Latinos of any race were 64.49% of the population. There were 1,837 households, out of which 48.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.6% 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, 14.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.5% were non-families. 15.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.32 and the average family size was 3.70. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 36.2% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 18.9% from 45 to 64, and 7.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.1 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 95.1 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $22,692, and the median income for a family was $26,153. Males had a median income of $23,904 versus $17,750 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 CDP was $10,033. About 25.2% of families and 31.3% 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 42.6% of those under age 18 and 24.8% of those age 65 or over.

Education

As part of the Gadsden Independent School District, Chaparral has the following public schools:

Elementary schools

* Chaparral Elementary School * Desert Trail Elementary School * Sunrise Elementary School * Yucca Heights Elementary school

Middle schools

* Chaparral Middle School

High schools

* Chaparral High School

Doña Ana Community College Doña Ana Community College is a public community college with several campuses located in Doña Ana County, New Mexico. It was established in 1973 at the request of the Gadsden, Hatch, and Las Cruces school boards to provide vocational and techn ...

maintains a satellite campus in Chaparral.

Transportation

Commercial air and rail transportation are available in the neighboring city of El Paso, Texas. Several highways (state and federal) pass through Chaparral: * NM 213, which runs north–south connecting El Paso to White Sands Missile Range. In Chaparral it is known as War Highway (which refers to its construction during World War II as a military access road) and connects to Martin Luther King Boulevard (Texas Farm to Market Road 3255) at the El Paso city limits. * NM 404, which runs east–west. This highway connects Chaparral to

Anthony, New Mexico Anthony is a city in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 8,693 at the 2020 census. It is located on the New Mexico–Texas state line in the Upper Mesilla Valley (immediately north of Anthony, Texas), and on Inter ...

and

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the origina ...

, which is approximately to the west through the Anthony Gap. In both Anthony and Chaparral it is known as O'Hara Road. *

U.S. Route 54 U.S. Route 54 (US 54) is an east–west United States Highway that runs northeast–southwest for from El Paso, Texas, to Griggsville, Illinois. The Union Pacific Railroad's Tucumcari Line (former Southern Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific an ...

, which runs north–south along Chaparral's eastern border, connects to Dyer Street and the Patriot Freeway in El Paso.

Town highlights

* Chaparral High School * Dolores Wright Park

Notable people

* Willie D. Madrid, member of the

New Mexico House of Representatives The New Mexico House of Representatives () is the lower house of the New Mexico State Legislature. There are 70 members of the House. Each member represents roughly 25,980 residents of New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the South ...

* Siddeeq Shabazz, professional football player

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Doña Ana County, New Mexico Census-designated places in New Mexico