Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns · #25 of 73 in New Mexico. What drives it
Most of Farmington was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. 1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 62 buildings. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1908 on, and the census since 1910.
The Farmington post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1901.
More historic than 43% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Farmington is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #25 of 73 in New Mexico. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
New Mexico towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical New Mexico town has 2.2 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Farmington’s 13.4 sits above most of its state (75% of New Mexico towns have fewer) while its 62 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Farmington’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
From Wikipedia’s history of Farmington.
The area that is now Farmington was settled by Ancestral Pueblo people in the 7th Century. Ruins can be visited at nearby Salmon Ruins and at the Aztec Ruins. When the Ancestral Puebloans left the area, the Navajos, Jicarilla Apaches, and Utes moved into the area. A key part of the region was known in Navajo as Tóta' which means "where three rivers meet".
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archive483 Switching in Farmington June 1967xRP - Flickr - drewj1946Born hereMelanie Stansbury is born hereBorn hereMike Dunn is born hereBorn hereChevel Shepherd is born hereOne decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Farmington. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Farmington.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1908Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Farmington’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 785 people in 1910 to 46,624 in 2020, more than tenfold.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Farmington’s Wikipedia page.
Farmington’s post office has been open since 1879.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Farmington post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1901.
Farmington is more historic than 43% of U.S. towns, #25 of 73 in New Mexico. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
One place: the Farmington Historic Downtown Commercial District (listed 2002).
2% of Farmington’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 2.3% for a New Mexico town; the median home was built in 1982.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1967
1967
2008
2008
2004