Lea

Formed March 17, 1917 (28^th county)

Lea County (74,455), Lovington (11,670), Hobbs (40,521)

The tan brick courthouse is on a square at Main Street, Central Avenue, Love Street and Washington Avenue.  Main Street is United States Highway 82 going north through the city.  The Art Deco courthouse was constructed in 1937 using the designs of O. R. Walker.  The building has been enlarged in 1948 and 1957.  A Judicial Complex was added in 2020.  There are veteran memorials and a military gun on the courthouse grounds.  Lea County was formed on March 17, 1917 from parts of Chaves and Eddy counties as the 28^th county with Lovington as the only county seat.  Joseph C. Lea, civil war veteran and mayor of Roswell, provided the county name.  Two settlers, Robert F. and James B. Love, are the source for the county seat’s name. 

Lea County government consists of a manager, a sheriff, a treasurer, an attorney, an assessor, and a clerk (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Nine District Court Judges serve Lea, Chaves, and Eddy counties (judicial.)  The county is in the southeast corner of New Mexico bordering Texas on both the east and south.  The county center is 3.4 miles South of Lovington.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Roosevelt County and Texas and Eddy and Chaves counties. 

The area of the county is 4393 square miles.  It is 11 out of 33 in the state.  It ranks 7 out of 33 in population in the state.  It has a density of 16.9 persons per square mile making it 9 out of 33 in the state.  Lea County has 78.1% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 62 enters from the east, Texas, and exits to the west, Eddy County.  United States Highway 82 crosses farther north in an east-west direction from Texas to Eddy County.  United States Highway 180 is joined with United States Highway 62 across from Texas to Eddy County.  United States Highway 380 also crosses east to west from Texas to Chaves County.  The county overall is a tall rectangle.  Lovington is in the northern half of the county.  Hobbs is near the eastern border.  Lovington is the county seat and Hobbs is the largest city.  Lovington is 15.7% of the county population while Hobbs is 54.4% of the county population.  The county is pronounced LEE.  This county is in the Hobbs Micropolitan Statistical Area.