Leaving Albuquerque

Once again, New Mexico ranks among the losers.

Bloomberg News analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data to determine “the 20 metropolitan areas that lost the greatest share of local people to other parts of the country between July 2013 and July 2014.”

You don’t have to sit down for this: Albuquerque was on the list. Ranking 19th, the region lost 0.38 percent of its residents during the period studied.

Nationally, losers were concentrated in the Rust Belt and Northeast, with Honolulu and Los Angeles also making the list. (Strangely, while most of Texas’s urban areas are booming, El Paso fared poorly, with a 1.02 percent decline.)

Great weather, friendly people, a rich history and culture — how can Albuquerque be losing population?

New Mexico needs aggressive and effective economic-development policies, implemented yesterday.