Chaparral, New Mexico's Largest Unincorporated Town, Weighs Breaking From Two Counties

Chaparral has grown into New Mexico's largest unincorporated community, but the borderland town just north of El Paso still has no city government, no single county home, and — according to residents and officials — not nearly enough public services to match its size. The community straddles Doña Ana County to the west and Otero County to the east, a split that has left roughly 16,500 residents, by the 2020 census, without the kind of local oversight most towns take for granted.