Crownpoint () 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) on the

Navajo Nation The Navajo Nation (), also known as Navajoland, is an Indian reservation of Navajo people in the United States. It occupies portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah. The seat of government is located in ...

in McKinley 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 ...

. The population was 2,900 at the time of the 2020 census, up from 2,278 in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. It is located along the Trail of the Ancients Byway, a designated New Mexico Scenic Byway.Trail of the Ancients.
New Mexico Tourism Department. Retrieved August 14, 2014.

History

Crownpoint was founded in 1912 by Samuel F. Stacher as an Indian agency to serve the

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

people in the Pueblo Bonito Agency of northwestern New Mexico. A school house, agency office and power house were built to accommodate future planned establishments. Chief Becenti, a local Navajo headman, is one of the first documented leaders of the area. He resided north of Crownpoint, where later in the 1930s a small community would be named after him, called Becenti Lake. In June 1965, Crownpoint was recognized as a local chapter government sub-unit of the

government. There are a total of 110 Navajo chapters across the Navajo Nation. The Crownpoint chapter serves as the center of Eastern Navajo Agency, and many tribal offices are located in the community.

Geography

Crownpoint is in central McKinley County along New Mexico State Road 371, which leads south to Thoreau and

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

, and north to Farmington. The community sits at an elevation of on land that drains toward the

Chaco River Chaco River is a river tributary to the San Juan River (Colorado River), San Juan River in San Juan County, New Mexico. Its mouth lies at an elevation of . Its source is located at an elevation of at , its confluence with Chaco Wash and Escavado W ...

to the north. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Crownpoint CDP has a total area of , of which , or 0.004%, are 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 2,630 people, 749 households, and 599 families residing in the CDP. The population density was . There were 937 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP was 89.09% Native American, 8.78% White, 0.42% African American, 0.38% Asian, 0.23% from other races, 0.04% Pacific Islander, and 1.06% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.18% of the population. There were 749 households, out of which 49.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.7% 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, 27.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.9% were non-families. 17.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 1.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.51 and the average family size was 4.03. In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 39.7% under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 3.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.7 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $29,792, and the median income for a family was $31,384. Males had a median income of $25,040 versus $24,704 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 $9,964. About 26.1% of families and 27.3% 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 33.8% of those under age 18 and 19.6% of those age 65 or over.

Education

It is in

Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools Gallup-McKinley County Schools (GMCS) is a school district based in Gallup, New Mexico which serves students from Gallup and surrounding areas of McKinley County. History Prior to 1980, the district had of land. That year parts left to form t ...

. District schools include Crownpoint Elementary School, Crownpoint Middle School, and Crownpoint High School. The

Bureau of Indian Education The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) is a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs that directs and manages education functions. Formerly known as the Office of Indian Education Programs ...

(BIE) operates T'iis Ts'ozi Bi'Olta' (Crownpoint Community School) in Crownpoint. There are other BIE schools that are located away from Crownpoint but which have Crownpoint post office addresses: * Lake Valley Navajo School * Mariano Lake Community School * Tse'ii'ahi' Community School - west of Crownpoint The main campus of Navajo Technical University is located in Crownpoint. Diné College has a campus in Crownpoint.

References

External links