# Chaves County, New Mexico: Power, Data Centers and the Local Economy Home to Roswell and Dexter Chaves County is one of the places pushing back on the data center build-out. Chaves County is home to Roswell, Dexter and Hagerman. 1 project is on the Delay Watchlist, including Project Zenith (Roswell). Construction employs 695, down 10.4% since 2019. 35 MW of that came online in 2019 or later, mostly solar. Its power plants have 194 MW of capacity, 92% of it solar. 194 MW of operating power plants, mostly solar +3.0% total jobs since 2019, now 21,847 11.98¢ per kWh for Southwestern Public Service Co residential customers, 2024 ## Cities and towns in Chaves County Chaves County is home to Roswell, Dexter and Hagerman. Roswell46,878 residents Dexter1,049 residents Hagerman957 residents Lake Arthur377 residents Unincorporated communities (governed by the county): Midway. Residents are 2025 Census estimates for the part of each city, town or township inside this county. Census publishes no annual estimate for unincorporated communities. ## What changed in Chaves County | Measure | Then | Now | Change | Rank in New Mexico | |---|---|---|---|---| | Population (2020 → 2025) | 65,154 | 63,364 | ▼ 2.7% | 10th of 33 by size | | Total jobs (2019 → 2025) | 21,219 | 21,847 | ▲ 3.0% | 14th of 33 by growth | | Average annual pay (2019 → 2025) | $37,480 | $49,083 | ▲ 31.0% | — | | Construction jobs (2019 → 2025) | 776 | 695 | ▼ 10.4% | 19th of 22 by growth | | Unemployment rate (2019 → August 2026) | 4.8% | 4.9% | ▲ 0.1pts | — | | Generating capacity added since 2019 | — | 35 MW | | — | | Generating capacity retired since 2019 | — | 0 MW | | — | Electrical contractors employ 95, at an average $69,689 a year. Employers here counted 21,847 jobs in 2025, up 3.0% from 2019. Southwestern Public Service Co is the largest utility serving Chaves County, one of 6 with territory here. Its residential customers paid an average 11.98¢/kWh in 2024, below the 15.46¢ median for New Mexico utilities. Unemployment was 4.9% in August 2026, against 4.8% in 2019. 63,364 people live here, down 2.7% since 2020, 10th of 33 New Mexico counties by population. ## Who powers Chaves County ### Utilities with service territory in Chaves County | Utility | Ownership | Service | Residential customers (systemwide) | Residential price, 2024 | Commercial share of sales | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Southwestern Public Service Co | Investor Owned | Bundled | 100,540 | 11.98¢ | 24% | | Central New Mexico El Coop, Inc | Cooperative | Bundled | 19,126 | 17.16¢ | 20% | | Otero County Electric Coop Inc | Cooperative | Bundled | 16,448 | 17.65¢ | 44% | | Lea County Electric Coop, Inc - (NM) | Cooperative | Bundled | 7,217 | 10.07¢ | 45% | | Central Valley Elec Coop, Inc | Cooperative | Bundled | 6,150 | 8.91¢ | 5% | | Roosevelt County Elec Coop Inc | Cooperative | Bundled | 3,918 | 12.07¢ | 5% | Customer counts, prices and sales shares cover each utility's whole system in the state, not only this county. Commercial sales include data centers. ### Operating power plants | Technology | Capacity | Share | |---|---|---| | Solar | 179 MW | 92% | | Wind | 15 MW | 8% | | Largest plants | Owner | Technology | MW | Since | |---|---|---|---|---| | Chaves Solar, LLC | Chaves Solar LLC | Solar | 70 MW | 2016 | | Roswell Solar, LLC | Roswell Solar, LLC | Solar | 70 MW | 2016 | | Chaves County Solar II | Chaves County Solar II, LLC | Solar | 30 MW | 2023 | | Anderson Wind II | Anderson Wind II LLC | Wind | 10 MW | 2014 | | Anderson Wind I | Anderson Wind I LLC | Wind | 5 MW | 2014 | | XCEL-1 Community Solar | Affordable Solar Silver City, LLC | Solar | 5 MW | 2026 | ## The Chaves County labor market | Industry (2025) | Jobs | Average pay | Concentration vs U.S. | |---|---|---|---| | All industries | 21,847 | $49,083 | 1.00 | | Construction | 695 | $55,362 | 0.60 | | Electrical contractors | 95 | $69,689 | 0.60 | Concentration is the BLS location quotient: 1.0 means the industry holds the same share of local jobs as it does nationally. Industry rows count private employers; cells BLS suppresses are left out. ## Data centers and local rules in Chaves County ### Delay Watchlist | Project | Status | Cause | MW | |---|---|---|---| | Project Zenith (Roswell) | pending review | community opposition | — | ## Chaves County and its neighbors Of the 6 counties that border Chaves County, Lea County carries the most build-out activity: data centers, planned generation and operating plants combined. [[[[[[ | County | Population | Jobs since 2019 | Operating MW | Planned MW | Data centers | Local measures | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Chaves County | 63,364 | ▲ 3.0% | 194 MW | — | — | — | | De Baca County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-mexico/de-baca-county) | 1,647 | ▲ 3.7% | — | 158 MW | — | — | | Eddy County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-mexico/eddy-county) | 62,509 | ▲ 2.8% | 30 MW | — | — | — | | Lea County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-mexico/lea-county) | 74,749 | ▲ 3.1% | 1,844 MW | 721 MW | — | — | | Lincoln County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-mexico/lincoln-county) | 19,844 | ▲ 1.1% | 3,291 MW | — | — | — | | Otero County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-mexico/otero-county) | 70,368 | ▲ 0.8% | 193 MW | 200 MW | — | — | | Roosevelt County](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-mexico/roosevelt-county) | 18,615 | ▼ 0.4% | 942 MW | 200 MW | — | — | ## More of New Mexico [All New Mexico countiesThe state power page and county mapOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-mexico)[Lea County74,749 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-mexico/lea-county)[Otero County70,368 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-mexico/otero-county)[Eddy County62,509 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-mexico/eddy-county)[Lincoln County19,844 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-mexico/lincoln-county)[Roosevelt County18,615 peopleOpen →](https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-mexico/roosevelt-county) ## Chaves County, answered from the record ### Who provides electricity in Chaves County, New Mexico? 6 utilities have service territory in Chaves County in the EIA-861 2024 report: Southwestern Public Service Co, Central New Mexico El Coop, Inc, Otero County Electric Coop Inc, Lea County Electric Coop, Inc - (NM). The largest, Southwestern Public Service Co, charged residential customers 11.98¢/kWh on average in 2024. ### What county is Roswell, NM in? Roswell is in Chaves County, New Mexico. About 46,878 people live there (2025 Census estimate). ### What power plants are in Chaves County? 8 operating plants with 194 MW of capacity. The largest is Chaves Solar, LLC (70 MW, solar). ### Are there data centers in Chaves County? The SAVRN Data Center Map has no data center in Chaves County. The nearest activity on record is next door in Lea County. ### Is Chaves County adding jobs? Employers counted 21,847 jobs in 2025 against 21,219 in 2019 (+3.0%, BLS QCEW). Construction went from 776 to 695. ### Does Chaves County have a data center moratorium? No county-level measure is on record for Chaves County. New Mexico has 12 local measures statewide, listed on the state page. --- Canonical: https://savrn.com/power-supply-chain-map/new-mexico/chaves-county Updated: 2026-10-08. Refreshed weekly by SAVRN from EIA, BLS, BEA, Census and the SAVRN trackers. License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).