New Mexico ranked 36th in population in the US with an estimated total of 1,855,059 in 2002, an increase of 2% since 2000. Between 1990 and 2000, New Mexico's population grew from 1,515,069 to 1,819,046, an increase of 20.1%. The population is projected to reach 2,016,000 by 2005 and 2.6 million by 2025. The population density in 2000 was 15 persons per sq mi.
In 2000 the median age was 34.6. Persons under 18 years old accounted for 28% of the population while 11.7% were age 65 or older.
In 2000, an estimated 463,874 people lived in Albuquerque; an estimated 678,820, more than one-third of New Mexico's total population, lived in the Albuquerque metropolitan area in 1999. Santa Fe, the 2nd-largest city and state capital, had 62,203 inhabitants in 2000.