Manufacturing in New Mexico Runs 11% Below the National Cost Average

New Mexico's manufacturing cost index stands at 88.9 against a national 100 as of August 2026 — labor at 101.0 and industrial energy at 52.7. That places it third cheapest of 51 jurisdictions.

• composite (US = 100): 88.9
• labor: 101.0
• industrial energy: 52.7

The composite weights labor at 75% and industrial electricity at 25%, so New Mexico's position is mostly an energy story: its energy component indexes at 52.7 against the national 100. A discount of 11 points compounds differently across shops — a labor-heavy job shop feels the labor line, an energy-hungry process plant feels the kilowatt-hours.

For a site decision the index is the starting point, not the answer: freight to customers, workforce depth, and incentives move individual cases. The per-state page carries the underlying wage and electricity series this index is built from, both refreshed automatically.