La Cienega is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States.

[4] According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 13.4 square miles (35 km2), all land.

[6] The former La Cienega Pueblo site contains archaeological evidence of "probable water catchment features" as well as petroglyphs on the basalt cliffs, and ruins of prehistoric room blocks at the site of the historic La Cienega Pithouse Village that are believed, by archaeologists, to be used for both ceremonial and domestic purposes.

[7] The cienega (spring and associated marsh) later supplied water to El Rancho de las Golondrinas and the Santa Fe River Canyon at the foot of the Caja del Rio.

The cienega itself is managed by the Santa Fe Botanical Garden as the Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve.

[8] La Cienega is an Area of Critical Environmental Concern and has been a focus of recent efforts to create an open space corridor between Santa Fe and the Rio Grande.