How does New Mexico stack up with big red and blue states?

Our friend Vance Ginn, Chief Economist at the Texas Public Policy Institute, recently compared his state of Texas and another prominent “red” state (Florida) with the biggest “blue” states of California and New York on a range of basic economic statistics.

You can see the data below which is loosely based on Ginn’s analysis linked above. The data are interesting to say the least.

New Mexico is definitely a “BLUE” state. It suffers from terrible workforce participation and unemployment rates and government consumes an outsized portion of our economy (even when compared with “blue” states).

Notably, New Mexico is also even less attractive as a moving destination than either big “blue” state. Ironically, New Mexico is the least “unequal” state as measured by the Top 10% income share and even New Mexico’s poverty rate isn’t “that” bad (compared with the other states) when the Census Bureau includes living costs and government benefits.

Notably, as it is heavily-reliant on oil and gas production and revenues, New Mexico’s economy is much more resource-driven than any of the other states studied.

Economic Freedom of North America (2021)
US Census Percent Population Growth 2010-2020
State Business Tax Climate (2021)
State Economic Outlook Rankings (2021)
State & Local Spending % GDP 2021 
State & Local Tax Burden % of income 2020
Avg. Unemployment Rate 2016-2020
Avg. Labor Force Participation 2016-2020
Avg. Top 10% income share (2000-2018)
Supplemental Poverty Measure (2017-2019)