Special Report

This Is the County in the Albuquerque, NM Metro Area with the Most Deaths from COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: December 3, 2021 2:30 am

Despite the ongoing vaccination effort, new daily cases of COVID-19 are beginning to rise once again in parts of the United States and the virus continues to claim lives. So far, 774,868 Americans have died from the virus — more than the total number of Americans killed in World War I and World War II combined.

In the Albuquerque metropolitan area, located in New Mexico, a total of 1,659 deaths have been attributed to the virus, equal to 182 fatalities for every 100,000 people. Nationwide, 237 deaths have been attributed to the virus per 100,000 people.

Though deaths attributable to the virus are less common across the metro area than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area have more deaths per capita than others.

The broader Albuquerque metro area comprises four counties or county equivalents — and of them, Valencia County has had the most COVID-19 fatalities per capita. So far, the per capita coronavirus death rate in Valencia County stands at 212 for every 100,000 people.

Though it has the highest per capita death rate in the Albuquerque metro area, Valencia County ranks among the middle 50% of all U.S. counties or county equivalents by COVID-19 death rate per capita.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Dec. 1, 2021.

These are all the counties in New Mexico where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).