Questa, New Mexico

Questa, New Mexico is located 20 miles north of Taos and 20 miles south of the Colorado border on State Highway 522. First settled in 1829, Questa is a farming and mining town originally called San Antonio del Río Colorado. A hundred families lived in the area in 1849, receiving mountain men and traders who came over the old Taos Trail in covered wagons. In 1854 a six-foot wall was constructed around the town to keep out raiding Indians. In 1883 the town acquired a post office and its present name of Questa. Mining entered its economy in the early twentieth century when molybdenum was found. With the decline of the Molycorp mine, farming and tourism have become more important to Questa today.

The following statistical information about Questa and Taos County came from the New Mexico Economic Development Department which derives most of its data from the 2000 U.S. Census. Links to other sources are shown where applicable.

Geography & Climate (Questa and Taos County)
Area in square miles					Density per square mile of land area
	Total area	Water area	Land area	Elevation	Population	Housing units
Questa	5.11	0	5.11	7,500	365	173.9
Taos	2,204.62	1.45	2,203.17		13.6	7.9
Source: NMSU Climate Center - www.wrcc.dri.edu/summary/climsmnm.html

Demographics
Population
	2001 Census Estimates	2000 Census	1990 Census	% change 1990-2000	1980 Census	1970 Census
Questa		1,864	1,707	9.2	1,202	1,095
Taos	30,353	29,979	23,118	29.6	19,456	17,516
Sources: Census 2000 Demographic Profile for Questa (pdf file), and for Taos (pdf file) County

Questa Government
Form of Municipal Government:			Mayor-Council
Municipal Services:			water, sewer, solid waste
Annual Operating Budget	Total Annual Revenues	Total GO Bonds Out	# FT Police	# FT Firefighters	# Volunteer Firefighters	Fire Insurance Rating (ISO)
$2,284,375.00	$141,822.00	$481,815.00	2	0	25	8
Sources: This information provided by the New Mexico Municipal League, 2001 Directory of New Mexico Municipal Officials, and by the community.

Housing
Census 2000	Total housing units	Occupied housing units	Owner- occupied housing units	Renter- occupied housing units	Vacant housing units	Homeowner vacancy rate (%)	Rental vacancy rate (%)
Questa	888	741	574	167	147	1.2	14.4
Taos	17,404	12,675	9,570	3,105	4,729	1.7	16.0

Source: US Census Bureau, Census 2000 for New Mexico: www.census.gov/census2000/states/nm.html

Utilities

Electric Utilities
Kit Carson Electric Coop., Inc.

Water Utilities
Village of Questa


Water Source: 2 wells
Treatment Method: Chlorination

Natural Gas Utilities
PNM Gas Service
www.pnm.com

Telephone Company
Qwest
www.qwest.com

Digital Service: 2

Sewer/Wastewater Utilities

Source: This information provided by the community.

Labor Force (Taos County)
	Civilian Labor Force	Total Employed	Total Unemployed	Unemployment Rate (%)
October - 2002	12,753	11,479	1,274	10.0
October - 2001	12,456	11,357	1,099	8.8
2001	12,700	11,466	1,234	9.7
2000	12,708	11,398	1,310	10.3
1999	12,649	11,182	1,467	11.6
1991	11,922	9,983	1,939	16.3
Source: New Mexico Department of Labor - http://www.dol.state.nm.us/data.htm

Employment and Wages by Industry
2001		Number of units	Total employed	Average weekly wages ($)
Agriculture, forestry, fishing & hunting		7	12	$332
Mining		7	272	$804
Utilities
Construction		212	776	$424
Manufacturing		44	217	$292
Wholesale trade		30	121	$546
Retail Trade		239	1,500	$355
Transporatation and warehousing		14	60	$326
Information		20	173	$483
Finance & insurance		30	170	$552
Real estate, rental & leasing		54	222	$422
Professional & technical services		91	238	$475
Management of companies & enterprises
Administrative & waste services		29	105	$328
Educational services		14	45	$339
Health Care & social services		70	1,157	$462
Arts, entertainment & recreation		31	343	$344
Accomodations & food service		169	2,166	$239
Other services, except public admin.		93	378	$329
Non-classifiables		4	2	$228
Federal Government		17	349	$704
State Government		19	307	$505
Local Government		65	1,451	$369

Source: New Mexico Departmant of Labor - http://www.dol.state.nm.us/

Education
K-12 School District		Educational Attainment -	Questa
Questa			Number	Percent
District size in square miles	659	Population 25 years and older	1,206	100.0
		Less than 9th grade	137	11.4
Total student enrollment	606	9th to 12th grade, no diploma	284	23.5
		High school graduate (including equivalency)	362	30.0
Student- teacher ratio	14.6	Some college, no degree	207	17.2
		Associate degree	79	6.6
# Public schools	7	Bachelor's degree	81	6.7
		Graduate or professional degree	56	4.6
# Non-Public schools	one	Percent high school graduate or higher	-	65.1
		Percent bachelor's degree or higher	-	11.4
Source: NM Department of Education - www.sde.state.nm.us		Source: US Census Bureau, Census 2000, Summary File 3 Data: www.census.gov

Post-Secondary Institutions within Taos County

The University of New Mexico Taos Campus

Molycorp Mine

The Molycorp Questa molybdenum mine, located in northern New Mexico, has been operating intermittently since the 1920s, and since the 1960s has been a large-scale mining operation. The mine operations, consisting of a total disturbed area of approximately 2,080 acres, includes waste rock dumps, an open pit, underground mine subsidence area, a tailings facility, and other facilities, roads and features. It is the largest mine in the Río Grande watershed. The mine site is adjacent to the Red River, once a blue-ribbon fishery.

The mine is a wholly owned subsidiary of Unocal, a $7.7 billion multinational corporation based in El Segundo, California.

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