While the nation is projected to become a people-of-color majority by the year 2044, Albuquerque reached that milestone in the 2000s. Since 1990, Albuquerque has experienced dramatic demographic growth and transformation–driven mostly by an increase in the Latino and Asian or Pacific Islander population.

Today, these demographic shifts–including a decrease in the percentage of White residents–persist. Albuquerque’s diversity is a major asset in the global economy, but inequities and disparities are holding the region back. Albuquerque is the 59th most unequal among the largest 100 metro regions. Since 2000, poverty and working-poverty rates in the region have been consistently higher than the national averages. Racial and gender wage gaps persist in the labor market.

We estimate that the Albuquerque metro economy would have been $11 billion larger in 2015 absent its racial inequities in income. Closing racial gaps in economic opportunity and outcomes will be key to the region’s future.

This profile was produced by the National Equity Atlas partnership with the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) with the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The profile was also released in partnership with the City of Albuquerque and New Mexico Voices for Children, and will serve as a guide for the city’s new Office of Equity and Inclusion to set its racial and economic equity agenda.

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Read our other publications by research area

    Immigrant Integration & Racial Justice

    Our work on immigrant integration and racial justice brings together three emphases: scholarship that draws on academic theory and rigorous research, data that provides information structured to highlight the process of immigrant integration over time, and engagement that seeks to create new dialogues with government, community organizers, business and civic leaders, immigrants and the voting public to advance immigrant integration and racial equity.

    Economic Inclusion & Climate Equity

    In the area of economic inclusion, we at ERI advance academic theory and practical applications linking economic growth, environmental quality, and civic health with bridging of racial and other gaps; produce accessible and actionable data and analysis through the data tools; and establish research partnerships to deepen and advance the dialogue, planning, and actions around racial equity, environmental justice, and the built environment.

    Social Movements & Governing Power

    ERI’s work in the area of governing power includes: conducting cross-disciplinary studies of today’s social movements, supporting learning and strategizing efforts to advance dialogues among organizers, funders, intermediaries, evaluators, and academics, and developing research-based social change frameworks and tools to inform—and be informed by—real-world, real-time efforts towards a vision of deep change.

    Publications Directory

    In 2020, the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) and the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII) merged to form the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI).

    The full list of publications published under our previous and current names can be found in our publications directory.

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