Colorado vs New Mexico: two economies side by side

Colorado and New Mexico share a border. Here are the two economies on the same measures, with the rank of each among 51 states and DC.

Rocky Mountain · SouthwestColorado leads on 9, New Mexico on 2 of 11 measures

Indicator	A · CO	B · NM	Ranks
GDP, 2025	$574.9B	$152.1B	17 · 38
Real GDP growth, 2025	+1.9%	+1.8%	27 · 31
Real growth a year since 2015	+3.2%	+2.7%	8 · 13
GDP per person	$95,610	$71,569	12 · 42
Income per person, 2025	$86,342	$62,089	10 · 46
Real income per person (2017 $)	$65,223	$51,121	8 · 49
Price level (US = 100)	103.1	92.2	13 · 37
Housing costs (US = 100)	127.4	73.6	5 · 37
Unemployment, September 2026	4.1%	4.7%	31 · 44
Population	6,012,561	2,125,498	20 · 36
Population growth a year since 2020	+0.77%	+0.07%	15 · 43

Highlighted: the higher value, or the lower one for prices and unemployment. BEA (GDP, income, price parities), BLS (unemployment).

Fig. 1Real GDP, index 2015 = 100Chained 2017 dollars

ColoradoNew Mexico

Fig. 2Unemployment rateMonthly, seasonally adjusted, since 2015

ColoradoNew Mexico

Industry mix, 2025

Share of each state’s GDP. Sorted by the gap between the two.

Industry	CO	NM	Gap, pp	Larger in
Government	11.3%	21.5%	10.2	NM
Mining, oil & gas	3.0%	12.3%	9.3	NM
Information	6.4%	2.1%	4.2	CO
Real estate	15.8%	11.9%	3.9	CO
Professional services	11.4%	8.1%	3.3	CO
Wholesale trade	5.5%	3.2%	2.3	CO
Manufacturing	5.1%	2.9%	2.1	CO
Finance & insurance	5.8%	3.9%	1.9	CO
Management of companies	1.9%	0.5%	1.5	CO
Construction	5.7%	4.4%	1.3	CO
Health care	6.4%	7.3%	0.9	NM
Retail trade	5.5%	6.4%	0.8	NM
Arts & recreation	1.5%	0.8%	0.8	CO
Transportation & warehousing	3.4%	2.7%	0.7	CO
Agriculture	0.5%	1.1%	0.6	NM
Utilities	1.1%	1.6%	0.5	NM
Education	0.8%	0.5%	0.3	CO
Other services	2.3%	2.1%	0.2	CO
Administrative & waste services	2.8%	3.0%	0.1	NM
Accommodation & food	3.6%	3.7%	0.0