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Welcome to Alamosa ...

The city of Alamosa is located in Alamosa County<1> and is the County Seat for Alamosa County.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Alamosa, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1878.

The city was incorporated August 12, 1878.

From Place Names in Colorado,<2> the origin of Alamosa is described as "Spanish for 'cottonwood'. It was named for Alamosa Creek."

When the people of Alamosa refer to themselves (known as a demonym), they frequently use Alamosan<3>

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Alamosa has a population of 9,386 people<4> (see below for details).

Alamosa is 7,540 feet [2,298 m] above sea level.<5> In other words, the elevation of Alamosa is about 1½ mile [or ~2¼ km] above sea level.

Time Zone: Alamosa lies in the Mountain Time Zone (MST/MDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area Code for Alamosa: 719

The ZIP codes for Alamosa: 81101-81102<6>

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Alamosa had an population of 9,386 people. This is an increase of 6.9% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 17.91% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Alamosa had a population of 8,780 people (or 56.59% of the total population of Alamosa County). This makes Alamosa the county's most populous community.

The population of Alamosa represents 0.17% of the total population of Colorado (which has 5,029,196 people), making it the state's 51st most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 8,780 people, the population of Alamosa increased 10.3% from the 2000 Census (which had a count of 7,960 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Alamosa.

Communities Also Named Alamosa ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are two Colorado communities named Alamosa: This one is located in Alamosa County and the other is located in Conejos County.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Alamosa.

Websites for Alamosa ...

Official Website:   www.cityofalamosa.org/

Chamber of Commerce:   www.alamosa.org/

Communities near Alamosa ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Alamosa.

  • Monte Vista
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Monte Vista have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monte Vista
    • Monte Vista is located in Rio Grande County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 4,067 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Monte Vista <8>
  • Sanford
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sanford have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sanford
    • Sanford is located in Conejos County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 900 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sanford <8>
  • La Jara
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Hooper
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Henry
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
  • Waverly
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Parma
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Parma. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<9>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parma
    • Parma is located in Alamosa County
    • Google driving directions:
    • From your current location to Parma
    • From Alamosa to Parma
  • Mosca
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mosca have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mosca
    • Mosca is located in Alamosa County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mosca <8>
  • Homelake
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Homelake have been provided by the GNIS.<7> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homelake
    • Homelake is located in Rio Grande County
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Homelake <8>
  • Bountiful
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Alamosa. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Alamosa.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Alamosa. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Alamosa.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Alamosa. Our list includes 23 papers. See our Newspapers Page for Alamosa.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Alamosa ...

Looking for more information about Alamosa? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Alamosa, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Alamosa.

Adding Alamosa to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Alamosa in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Alamosa was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<10>

X2X - From that list, the Alamosa post office opened in 1878.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Alamosa.

The official website for Alamosa: www.cityofalamosa.org/

The official website for State of Colorado: https://www.colorado.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>If you're interested in how the shape of Colorado's counties, including Alamosa, have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
<2>
<3>A demonym is the name for a resident of a community which is usually derived from (or is related to) the name of that community. In other words, it's how the residents of Alamosa refer to themselves. It's important to note that there aren't any rules for taking a city's name and turning it into a demonym. A demonym is informal and while the majority of Alamosa may use one name, keep in mind that others may use something different.
<4>Population counts have been provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. For more detail, please visit our Census Page for Alamosa.
<5>The elevation is an estimate for the area around Alamosa - it will be higher in some places and lower in others.
<6>ZIP Codes have been created by the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a way of grouping addresses to make delivery more efficient. The boundaries of the ZIP Code can be changed, re-assigned, eliminated or overlapped with other ZIP Codes. So keep in mind that any given ZIP Code is only 'loosely' associated with a city (such as Alamosa). When looking for a ZIP Code, whether Alamosa or elsewhere, it's always best to check the website of the United States Postal Service (USPS).

Our list of ZIP Codes for Alamosa includes: 81101 & 81102.
<7>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<8>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<9>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<10>A copy of their list with background information can be found at:

      https://cblevins.github.io/us-post-offices/data-biography/




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Apr 2025