According to the latest Census figures New Mexico lost 3,333 people between July 2021 and July 2022. No big deal, right? New Mexico is blessed with great weather, is in a fast-growing area of the nation, and has massive revenues from its oil and gas industries and will be just fine, right?
Wrong, as has been the case for decades Americans are “voting with their feet” and following economic freedom.
Well, also according to the Census Bureau New Mexico lost population between July 2020 and July 2021.
Two years has the makings of a trend, but between 2010 and 2019, while New Mexico gained a modest number of people, the overall growth of New Mexico was not in line with the American Southwest, rather it was in line with established, slow-growth states like Kentucky.
You can see recent population information in the charts below:
You have no clue whether people leaving a state are “voting with their feet” or if this is just a symptom of population declines in many parts of the country with the retirement and passing of the baby boomer population. I would suggest as well, if you want to make it political, that many departures are from rural, right wing counties, like Sierra County where I live, where we suffer from both extremist and unimaginative politics which fosters Walmarts, Dollar Generals and Del Tacos as future employment for our bright young local graduates.
It is true that urban areas are growing more quickly while rural areas are not, but there is a clear pattern over decades of people moving from less economically free states to more economically free states. New Mexico has never embraced economic freedom policies (low taxes and reasonable regulations) and has grown more slowly than it’s more economically-free neighbors.
NEW MEXICO is last in everything and first in crime. The education system is useless. The corruption is never going to stop and the population is too ignorant to see what’s going on around them.
I recently moved to New Mexico. The former state was full of radical-minde people who claimed to be neighborly, but in reality were the opposite. I like the fact I don’t have to drive 45 minutes to the store or to a doctor’s appointment. I like the fact that people seem to be friendly and helpful.
Thank you for your note. There are many positive aspects to New Mexico. Of course, there is concern about the shortage of doctors in our state, but if you live in the Albuquerque area you are in better shape than most on that front.
This would be funny if it wouldn’t be sad. What I haven’t seen on this are the millions of dollars the Governor spent on census participation advertising. That on top of normal federal census advertising. I remember the flood of advertising to “be sure to participate in the census as it drives how much we will get from the federal government, etc.” All that money yet population still dropping. You have to wonder how many people really left who hadn’t taken the census prior…