Welcome to Defiance ...

Defiance is located in McKinley County<1>.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Defiance, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1881.

Defiance is 6,360 feet [1,939 m] above sea level.<2> In other words, the elevation of Defiance is about 1¼ mile [or ~2 km] above sea level.

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

Note: If you travel west from Defiance, you will soon leave Mountain Time and cross into the Mountain Standard Time Zone (MST). In addition, you will be moving from an area that observes daylight saving time to one that does not.

Defiance is located in the (505) area code.

Communities Also Named Defiance ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are two New Mexico communities named Defiance: This one is located in McKinley County and the other is located in Bernalillo County.

Beyond New Mexico, there are 13 communities that are also named Defiance - they are located in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas (2), Kentucky (2), Michigan, Missouri (2), North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

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

Communities near Defiance ...

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

• Gallup
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gallup
  • Gallup is located in McKinley County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 21,253 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Gallup <3>
• Red Rock
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Rock
  • Red Rock is located in McKinley County
• Rock Springs
  (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Springs
  • Rock Springs is located in McKinley County
• Yah-ta-hey
  (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yah-ta-hey have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yah-ta-hey
  • Yah-ta-hey is located in McKinley County
• Hunters Point
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Point
  • Hunters Point is located in Apache County (AZ)
• Lupton
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lupton
  • Lupton is located in Apache County (AZ)
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lupton <3>
• Oak Springs
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Springs
  • Oak Springs is located in Apache County (AZ)
• Rehoboth
  (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rehoboth
  • Rehoboth is located in McKinley County
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rehoboth <3>
• Bread Springs
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bread Springs
  • Bread Springs is located in McKinley County
• Tse Bonito
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tse Bonito have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tse Bonito
  • Tse Bonito is located in McKinley County

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 Defiance. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Defiance.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Defiance. 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 Defiance.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Defiance. See our Newspapers Page for Defiance.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Defiance ...

Looking for more information about Defiance? 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.

While we are unaware of a Tourism page that is specific to Defiance, there are neighboring communities that do have Tourism pages. A map of those communities can be found with our TripAdvisor Page for Defiance.

Adding Defiance to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Defiance 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 Defiance was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<5>

From that list, the Defiance post office opened in 1881.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Defiance.

Off-the-Road Links ...

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Defiance. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for McKinley County: www.co.mckinley.nm.us/

The official website for State of New Mexico: www.newmexico.gov/