List of rivers of New Mexico


This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of New Mexico arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name. In mean flow of water per second, the San Juan River Arkansas is New Mexico's largest river, followed by the Rio Grande and the Animas River.

East of the continental divide

Mississippi">Mississippi River">Mississippi watershed

Rio Grande watershed

Interior basin

West of the continental divide

Colorado">Colorado River">Colorado watershed

Rivers listed by average flow rate

The table lists mean flow in cubic feet of water per second of each river with a flow rate of more that 30 cfs. One cubic foot of water equals.0283 cubic meters. The waters of most rivers in New Mexico are used extensively for irrigation, thus reducing mean flow rates.
Rivercubic feet per second flowLocation of monitoring stationMaximum flow cfs Minimum flow cfs
San Juan River1,983Shiprock80,000 8.0 32.0
Animas River853Farmington25,000 0.00
Rio Chama559near Chamita15,000 1.2
Gila River237near Red Rock48,400 2.2
Pecos River217near Artesia51,500 0.00
Canadian River164Near Sanchez145,000 0.00
Los Pinos River116near Ortiz, Colorado3,160 1.7
San Francisco River86.5near Glenwood37,100 1.5
Embudo Creek80.3near Dixon4,200 0.06
Jemez River72.4near Jemez Pueblo5,900 1.2
Ojo Caliente River66.9La Madera3,730 0.20
Rio Pueblo de Taos58.8near Los Cordovas2,380 0.00
Costilla Creek44.9near Costilla1,150 0.34
Rio Pueblo42.4near Penasco2,200 0.91
Red River41.3near Questa886 0.60
Revuelto Creek39.5near Logan26,700 0.00
Rio Puerco38.8near Bernardo18,800 0.00
Rio Hondo34.2near Valdez541 1.0
Mora River32.7near Terrero937 0.90
Santa Cruz River30.7near Cundiyo2,420 0.19
Mogollon Creek30.2near Cliff10,800 0.00

Source: "Water Resources Data for the United States," United States Geological Survey,, Search: New Mexico.