Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Socorro, TX

Socorro traces its roots to 1680, when Spanish officials and Piro Indian refugees fleeing the Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico settled along the Rio Grande in what is now El Paso County.

Socorro's mission, Nuestra Señora de la Limpia Concepción del Socorro, was established in 1682, and the main part of the present mission church was completed in 1843 after earlier churches were destroyed by Rio Grande floods.

A Rio Grande flood in 1829 cut a new channel that left Socorro, Ysleta, and San Elizario stranded on an island-like strip of land known locally as La Isla.

Socorro takes its name from the Spanish word for "help" or "assistance," carried over from its colonial mission name.

Socorro was part of Mexico from 1821 until 1848, when it became part of Texas and the United States after the Mexican-American War.

The completion of Elephant Butte Dam on the Rio Grande in 1916 transformed Socorro's family farms into large-scale cotton production on plantation-sized estates.

Socorro has disincorporated and reincorporated several times, and in 1985 its voters chose by a margin of 263 votes to remain a separate city rather than be annexed by El Paso.

Socorro had 34,306 residents in the 2020 census, up from 32,013 in 2010, and the Census Bureau estimated its population had climbed to about 38,787 by mid-2025.

Socorro has about 11,396 households, and more than 81% of its homes are owner-occupied, with an average of about 3.25 people per household.

Socorro sits on the north bank of the Rio Grande directly on the Mexican border, about ten miles southeast of downtown El Paso.