Valencia County, New Mexico: Power, Data Centers and the Local Economy

Valencia County is home to Los Lunas, Belen, Rio Communities and Bosque Farms.

Unincorporated communities (governed by the county): Adelino, Casa Colorada, Chical, El Cerro, El Cerro Mission, Highland Meadows, Jarales, Las Maravillas, Los Chaves, Madrone, Meadow Lake, Monterey Park, Pueblitos, Sausal, Tome, Valencia.

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.

Employers here counted 17,864 jobs in 2025, up 17.0% from 2019 (the 2nd fastest growth of 33 New Mexico counties). 375 MW of that came online in 2019 or later, mostly solar. Electrical contractors employ 637, up 9.3% since 2019 against up 18.1% statewide, at an average $93,312 a year. Its power plants have 621 MW of capacity, 43% of it solar, the 10th largest fleet in New Mexico. Public Service Co of NM is the largest utility serving Valencia County, one of 4 with territory here. Its residential customers paid an average 15.57¢/kWh in 2024. 82,013 people live here, up 7.2% since 2020, 6th of 33 New Mexico counties by population. Unemployment was 5.5% in August 2026, against 5.3% in 2019.

Utilities with service territory in Valencia County

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 14

Planned generation 3

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.

6 data centers in Valencia County are on the SAVRN Data Center Map.

Delay Watchlist 1

Of the 4 counties that border Valencia County, Bernalillo County carries the most build-out activity: data centers, planned generation and operating plants combined.