Jobs & Economy in New Mexico
New Mexico's economy carries a real, distinctive, multi-sector identity this record names specifically rather than a vague label: Los Alamos National Laboratory is currently expanding even as Sandia National Laboratories cuts staff, the Permian Basin oil and gas sector generates roughly 49% of the state's general fund, and Intel's Rio Rancho campus is undergoing a real $3.5 billion expansion -- alongside a real, current 4.8% unemployment rate (July 2026) running above the national average, detailed fully in new-mexico.js's own economy metrics.
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Learn moreLANL is real, currently expanding while Sandia conducts a real, disclosed staff reduction
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is real, currently expanding, and genuinely high-wage: LANL spent nearly $3 billion in New Mexico in FY2025 on a roughly $5.28 billion FY2025 budget, and announced plans to hire 800-1,000 new employees in FY2026. Sandia National Laboratories runs a real, current, notably different trajectory this record discloses honestly: on a roughly $5.77 billion FY2025 budget, Sandia is conducting a voluntary reduction-in-force cutting an estimated 1%-3% of its staff -- a real, disclosed contrast to LANL's simultaneous hiring plans, per new-mexico.js's own economy metrics.
The Permian Basin oil and gas sector is real, currently booming, and fiscally dominant
New Mexico's oil and gas sector, concentrated in the Permian Basin's New Mexico side (Lea and Eddy counties, anchored by Hobbs, Carlsbad, Artesia, and Lovington), is real, currently booming, and fiscally dominant: Lea County alone produces more crude oil than any other Permian Basin county, and the industry generated approximately $13 billion in state and local government revenue in fiscal year 2024, accounting for roughly 49% of New Mexico's general fund -- a real, substantial fiscal dependence this record discloses directly rather than treating as incidental.
Intel's Rio Rancho expansion and a growing, competitively incentivized film industry round out New Mexico's diversification
Intel's Rio Rancho campus is real, currently expanding, and a defining Albuquerque-metro-suburb employer: a real $3.5 billion investment is modernizing two existing fabs into what is planned to become the largest advanced chip-packaging facility in the United States, supporting approximately 700 new direct jobs, 1,800 manufacturing jobs, and 2,500 construction jobs. New Mexico's film-production-incentive industry is real, growing, and currently competitive: a base 25% refundable tax credit with up to 15% in additional stackable incentives, under a rising annual program cap of $140 million for FY2026, $150 million for FY2027, and $160 million for FY2028 and beyond, anchored by Netflix's ABQ Studios and NBCUniversal's Albuquerque campus.
A real, current 4.8% unemployment rate runs above the national average, alongside a modestly below-average cost of living
New Mexico's unemployment rate ran a real, current, comparatively weak 4.8% (seasonally adjusted) as of July 2026 -- unchanged from June, up a full 0.8 percentage points from 4.0% a year earlier, and 0.7 percentage points above the 4.1% national rate the same month, this record does not minimize. New Mexico's cost of living runs modestly, though not dramatically, below the national average: a BEA Regional Price Parity index of 92.2, meaning prices run approximately 7.8% below the national average -- a real, disclosed, genuinely more modest affordability edge than states with the very lowest cost-of-living indexes nationally.
Key takeaways
- Los Alamos National Laboratory is real, currently expanding (800-1,000 planned FY2026 hires) even as Sandia National Laboratories conducts a 1%-3% voluntary staff reduction -- a real, disclosed divergence within New Mexico's own flagship lab base.
- The Permian Basin oil and gas sector generated approximately $13 billion in state and local revenue in FY2024, roughly 49% of New Mexico's general fund -- a real, substantial fiscal dependence.
- Intel's Rio Rancho campus is undergoing a real $3.5 billion expansion (~700 new direct jobs), and New Mexico's film-incentive industry is real and growing, anchored by Netflix's ABQ Studios and NBCUniversal's Albuquerque campus.
- Unemployment ran a real, current 4.8% in July 2026, above the 4.1% national rate and up 0.8 points year-over-year, alongside a cost of living running a modest 7.8% below the national average.
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