My View Jon McLaughlin
From optimism to sustained growth: It’s New Mexico’s moment
By Jon McLaughlin | Feb. 15, 2026 | Santa Fe New Mexican
Throughout history, regional economic prosperity has been driven either by geographic advantages or by harnessing an innovation cluster: Technologists in Silicon Valley and the automakers in Detroit seized it; Venice, Hong Kong and Amsterdam all benefited from their trade routes. New Mexico may be the next beneficiary of these economic endowments, helping define a next wave of sustained growth over the next several decades.
First, people (and capital) are continuing to migrate away from higher-cost congested cities toward regions that offer affordability, space and improved quality of life. New Mexico benefits from comparatively low housing costs, favorable tax dynamics and plenty of “elbow room” to expand. As the cities around us (Los Angeles, Phoenix, Salt Lake, Denver, Dallas, Austin) and beyond (New York, Seattle, Atlanta) strain under the pressures of affordability and congestion, secondary Southwest markets are becoming logical alternatives for families, workers and employers, bringing forth new consumers (and new skilled talent) to our region.
Second, New Mexico hosts a dense concentration of national labs, defense bases and related infrastructure. Given the rise in geopolitical uncertainty, federal spending in defense, research and national security remains structurally strong despite periodic budget drama on Capitol Hill.
This, coupled with our proximity to key sites in Colorado and Texas, have led many to proclaim New Mexico as the next “Space Valley,” where expertise, capital, and key contracts can come together to form the backbone of an entire new growth vertical, similar to what semiconductors did for Silicon Valley.
