Albuquerque, New Mexico

Albuquerque ( pronounced /?ælb?k?rkiː/ ^{(deprecatit template)}) is the lairgest ceety in the state o New Mexico , Unitit States . It is the coonty seat of Bernalillo Coonty an is situatit in the central pairt o the state, straddlin the Rio Grande . The ceety population wis 528,497 as o Julie 1, 2009, accordin tae U.S. census estimates, ^[1] an ranks as the 34t-lairgest ceety in the U.S. As o Juin 2007, the ceety wis the saxt fastest-growin in Americae. ^[2] It haes a metropolitan population o 869,684, as o Juin 2010, accordin tae the U.S. Census Bureau.

Albuquerque is the 57t-lairgest Unitit States metropolitan aurie . The Albuquerque MSA population includes the ceety o Rio Rancho , ane o the fastest-growin ceeties in the Unitit States. Roughly hauf the fowk in New Mexico live in the Albuquerque aurie.

Albuquerque is hame tae the University o New Mexico (UNM), Kirtland Air Force Base , Sandia National Laboratories , Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute , an Petroglyph National Monument , an is the seat o the Episcopal Diocese o the Rio Grande . The Sandia Mountains run alang the eastren side o Albuquerque, an the Rio Grande flows throu the ceety, north tae sooth.