Socorro is a city in Socorro County, New Mexico in the Rio Grande Valley, at an elevation of 4579 feet. The population was 8,877 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Socorro County^GR6.

The City of Socorro bills itself as having been established in 1598, but it would be more accurate to say that the area was named in that year by Spanish explorers who had crossed the Jornada del Muerto and were much in need of the aid and hospitality they received upon reaching the area which is Socorro today. The name means ‘aid’, ‘help’, or ‘refuge’.

Modern Socorro offers many diversions for travelers and tourists, but is easily missed by drivers on Interstate 25. Those travelers who explore the area beyond California Street (the main through road) can easily get lost as the pattern of roads in Socorro follows several patterns which come together at atypical intersections. Additionally, some streets in town are oddly named: Central and Center street are parallel, two blocks apart; Neel and Neal have nothing to do with each other; there is a Cassity St. on one end of town and a Cassady Ln. on the other; and Long Street is one block long while Short Street is three blocks long.